Even in the spaces of the UN Protection of Civilians sites (PoCs), prophetic powers were used to make peace. From the outset of the war in December 2013, people ran to the peace-keeping bases of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for protection. It had bases in all ten of the state capitals across South Sudan, and civilians demanded that they offer protection. Many who fled never felt safe to leave and so remained. These bases became an unprecedented, quasi-permanent, UN-guarded refuge for civilians fleeing attacks. Across South Sudan, in the years after December 2013, over 200,000 South Sudanese fled to these PoCs. In December 2013, a few thousand people from Bentiu town fled to the PoCs. In 2015, with the escalation of violence in rural areas, large numbers fled into the PoCs including from the communities to the east of the Bilnyang and connected rivers. For years, the population of the Bentiu PoC has consistently been over a hundred thousand.
The PoCs located within existing UNMISS premises have been beset by legal and operational ambiguities, and various figures with blurred authority. Humanitarian agencies have also been responsible for maintaining standards of living and basic services in PoCs. For many people, living inside the Bentiu PoCs has been a new experience of urban life and life in close proximity to humanitarian agencies.
The UN and PoC site residents have questioned the continued authority of prophets and chiefs. Life in the PoC sites was a radical reconfiguration of how homes and families were spatially arranged, and how resources were acquired. People now lived in close proximity to strangers, had their food and health care provided by humanitarians, and had a new structure of camp leadership designed around their PoC site living arrangements. In this new context, there was a question about the continuity of the cosmic and moral worlds of previous village life.
At the same time, prophetic ideas have been drawn upon to make peace in the PoC sites. For example, before 2013, a girl had been courted by a man named Gatkuoth. However, their relationship did not last and they split up. In 2014, this girl fled with her family to the PoC site in Bentiu. In Bentiu, she met a man named Tor and they married. Later on, Gatkuoth also moved to that PoC. He had not known of the girl’s marriage and when he saw her washing a man’s clothes, he questioned her about her marriage. She told him of her marriage to Tor and he immediately behaved violently. He hit her and she hurt him in retaliation. Tor was called to the fight and nearly joined in. Yet he took advice and instead called the Community Watch Group who intervened to stop the fighting. They were all taken to court and the court ruled in favour of Tor. His wife was sent for medical treatment and Gatkuoth was arrested by the UN police.
At the arrest of Gatkuoth, his brother and father violently protested. They went to Tor’s house where he was taking dinner with friends. They attacked them while they were seated and three of Tor’s friends were injured. Gatkuoth and Tor were both from the Jagei (based around the area of greater Koch) section of Kolang Ket but were from different sub-sections of the Bor and Jediet. As more people were drawn into the violence, concern grew that the conflict would be interpreted along sub-sectional lines. This identity politics could have quickly mobilised much larger numbers.
At this point, the situation was quickly escalated to the chairman of the Community High Committee of the camp. He called the Jagei community leader in the camp, who called together leaders from the conflicting sections. After four days of negotiations, it was agreed that the sides would pay compensation for injuries caused and the injured were sent for medical examination.
Divine authority helped make peace. The Jagei community leader explained that compensation alone was not adequate to make peace. He insisted that the warring parties greet each other. He also insisted that they go together to the home of Dingding Kuol Kolang. Dingding was not a prophet of MAANI but had authority over the luak of Nyaruac in the absence of a prophet of MAANI. Powers of his prophetic ancestors had been passed to him and he could still bless and curse with impunity. At the time, he was living in the PoC site in Bentiu. As the community leader explained the situation to Dingding, the latter threatened on behalf of MAANI that anyone who reopened the conflict between Bor and Jedeit would himself have a bit (curse) fall upon him. The threat of his power to kill gave force to the demand for peace.