Author: The South Sudan Herald

Black Rain Startles a City Over a week of intense showers, Juba residents woke to puddles the colour of engine oil. Social media images spread quickly, prompting lively roadside debates and radio call-ins. For many, it was the first time rain had arrived looking more like ink than water. Meteorological officers confirmed 80 millimetres of rain fell on 21 August, matching ICPAC forecasts of a wetter season. Yet the colour perplexed them. “This is not a standard weather event; contaminants are involved,” said senior forecaster Angelo Ladu during a televised briefing. Tracing the Pollution Sources Environmental chemists point first to…

Rising Wave of South Sudanese Voluntary Returns Dozens of families are leaving Kenya’s Kakuma camp every week, trekking 400 kilometres toward the Nadapal gate that marks South Sudan’s frontier. Local authorities in Greater Kapoeta estimate more than 2,000 people have crossed since July, a figure climbing steadily. Returnees cite shrinking food rations, classroom overcrowding, and uncertainty over future resettlement prospects inside the sprawling Kenyan settlement, according to testimonies gathered by Eye Radio reporters and humanitarian monitors. Envoy Adut Salva Kiir’s Dignity-First Blueprint Sworn in this week as Senior Presidential Envoy on Special Programs, Adut Salva Kiir used her maiden briefing…

Governor Altaib’s Vision for Inclusive Governance Newly sworn-in Western Equatoria governor James Altaib Berapai told reporters in Juba that no commissioner will serve in their native county, describing the decision as a deliberate gesture toward post-conflict healing and cross-community confidence. He argued that decades of localized rivalry have fostered suspicion, and fresh faces leading each county could reset relationships. “A son of Mvolo in Nzara, a daughter of Nzara in Ezo,” he said, suggesting rotation will symbolically dismantle parochial fault lines. A Region Marred by Insecurity and Displacement Crop raids, child abductions and sporadic gunfire continue to unsettle Tambura, Nagero…

Fresh voices in South Sudanese agriculture At the University of Juba, third-year Agricultural Science student Chol Alier Dit is urging his compatriots to move beyond the hand-hoe. Speaking to The Dawn, he argued that subsistence farming traps households in low yields and keeps the nation dependent on food imports. Alier believes 2020s technology—precision seeders, mobile weather apps, solar pumps—could double cereal output and align South Sudan with its East African neighbours. “Life is not only about our own ideas; learning from others matters,” he said. Fertile land, untapped opportunity Decades of conflict left vast stretches of black-cotton soil idle, yet…

Relentless Downpour Submerges Twic East Three straight days of unseasonal rain have turned Twic East County in Jonglei State into a watery maze (state radio reports). Locals compare the scene to an inland sea, with market stalls, clinics and schools sitting under brown floodwater. Displacement Figures Rise by the Hour Lawmakers estimate that more than 50,000 people have trekked to nearby levees and church grounds now serving as improvised camps (parliament transcript). Families crowd under tarpaulins, sharing the little food salvaged from flooded homes, while wells are contaminated and malaria fears mount. Lawmakers Push for Immediate Response Deng Dau Deng,…

Yambio Records Sharp Uptick in Hepatitis Laboratories in Yambio confirmed 231 hepatitis infections from 1,300 people screened in April. Dr Peter David Siro described the figures as “a wake-up call that the virus is moving faster than our response.” Women accounted for nearly half the cases, while twenty children also tested positive. Testing Shortfalls Expose Silent Spread Clinicians report dwindling rapid-test cartridges as community demand surges. Villagers trekking from remote payams often find supplies exhausted by midday, forcing some to return untested. “We cannot map the outbreak without reliable diagnostics,” a senior lab officer lamented. Vaccines and Treatment Centres in…

Historic Gathering in Juba More than 60 women from Jonglei State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area converged in Juba for a landmark five-day peace conference, seeking to break entrenched cycles of revenge killings, child abductions and gender-based violence that have scarred South Sudan for decades. Women Drive Grassroots Peace Organised by the local NGO Peace Canal under its Bridges of Peace programme, the event provided what coordinator Nyadow Biel Makuach called “the first safe space for women to speak as peace fighters, not victims,” bringing together Nuer, Murle and Dinka representatives from Greater Bor, Greater Akobo and Ayod. Makuach…

South Sudan Independence Dream Tested On 9 July 2011, crowds in Juba waved flags under a hot Sahel sun, convinced that sacrifice had birthed a state of hope. Thirteen years later, many South Sudanese still await the dividends of freedom, navigating recurrent insecurity, inflation, and political deadlock. Leadership and Governance Challenges Veterans of the liberation war and younger politicians often present revolutionary credentials as proof of legitimacy. Analysts argue that such entitlement breeds factionalism, patronage, and contested resource allocation, hampering the consolidation of impartial institutions and diverting attention from service delivery and nation-building. Oil revenues once promised quick development, yet…

A Sudden Detention Major General Akot Lual Arech, once a trusted presidential envoy on Pibor affairs, was taken by security agents in Juba on 2 August without formal charges. His three-week custody stirred questions inside South Sudan’s legal community, as the constitution demands a court appearance within 24 hours. Community Mobilization During Lual’s confinement, the Awan Chan Youth Association launched daily social-media appeals, portraying the issue as a test of communal solidarity. Spokesman John Mawien Maduok argued that “a son of Warrap cannot vanish in silence,” urging elders to lobby discreetly at the presidency. Legal Lens and Human Rights Rights…

Foreign Ministry Weekly Briefings Plan South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it will meet the press every Thursday from 4 September as part of a new transparency drive. Officials say the regular slot will offer verified updates on diplomatic engagements and quickly correct what they call “misinformation” before it gains traction online or on community radios. Gaza Resettlement Rumors Addressed The ministry once again labeled reports of talks to host Palestinians displaced from Gaza as “false and unfounded,” stressing that no formal or informal dialogue with Israel or other partners has occurred on the matter. Analysts note…