Customary Authority in South Sudan

The Rift Valley Institute published in 2019 a study titled "Making Order Out of Disorder: Customary Authority in South Sudan" by Cherry Leonardi, Durham University.

South Sudan's customary authorities--mostly, but not exclusively, termed as chiefs--played a key role as brokers between the rebels and local populations during conflict between the government of Sudan and southern rebels. Chiefs remain an important institution within local government and the justice system but the capacity of chiefs to enforce court decisions and resolve local conflicts is limited without government support. Chiefs continue to play a leading role in defining custom.

South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda: The Role of Customary Authority

The Rift Valley Institute recently posted a study dated 2018 and titled "Customary Authorities Displaced: The Experience of Western Equatorians in Ugandan Refugee Settlements" by Bruno Braak, Van Vollenhoven Institute in Leiden, and John Justin Kenyi, independent South Sudanese researcher.

The report examines the consequences of conflict and displacement on customary authority among refugees in Uganda from former Western Equatoria state in South Sudan. Various forms of non-customary authority proliferate in these refugee settlements, in some ways filling the gap left by the missing chiefs. Despite a general decline in the fortunes of customary authorities in Western Equatoria, and their near absence in the Ugandan refugee settlements, they remain popular among the region's people.