SOUTH SUDAN: Who Are The Dinka People?

The Dinka people or Jieng are a community, composed of many ethnic groups, inhabiting the East and West Banks of River Nile, from Mangalla to Renk, regions of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile former two of three Southern Provinces in Sudan and Abyei Area of the Angok Dinka in South Khordofan of Sudan.

The Dinka community is a domesticated community, which mainly lives on traditional agriculture and pastoralism, relying on cattle husbandry as a cultural pride, not for commercial profit or for meat, but cultural demonstrations, rituals, marriages' doweries and milk feedings for all ages.

The Dinka cultivate food crops and cash crops. The food crops are grains dura or sorghum and millet.

The cash crops are groundnuts, semsemi and more varieties like gum-Arabi etc. Cattle are confined to riverside and sudd and grass areas during the dry season, but are amounted to high grounds in order to avoid floods and water during the rainy season.

They number around 4.5 million people according to the 2008 Sudan census, constituting about 18% of the population of the entire country, and the largest ethnic tribe in South Sudan.

Dinka, or as they refer to themselves, Muonyjang (singular) and jieng (plural), one of the branches of the River Lake Nilotes mainly sedentary agripastoral peoples of the Nile Valley and African Great Lakes region who speak Nilotic languages, including the Nuer and Luo.

Dinka are sometimes noted for their height, they are believed to be the tallest people in Africa. A reported average height of 182.6 cm or 5 ft 11.9 in in a sample of 52 Dinka Ageir and 181.3 cm or 5 ft 11.4 in in 227 Dinka Ruweng measured in 1953–1954.

However, it seems the stature of today's Dinka males is lower, possibly as a consequence of undernutrition and conflicts.

An anthropometric survey of Dinka men, war refugees in Ethiopia, published in 1995 found a mean height of 176.4 cm or 5 ft 9.4 in.

Other studies of comparative historical height data and nutrition place the Dinka as the tallest people in the world.

The Dinka people have no centralised political authority, instead comprising many independent but interlinked clans. Certain of those clans traditionally provide ritual chiefs, known as the masters of the fishing spear or beny bith, who provide leadership for the entire people and appear to be at least in part hereditary.

Their language, called Dinka or thuongmuoingjang, is one of the Nilotic languages of the eastern Sudanic language family. The name means people in the Dinka language. It is written using the Latin alphabet with a few additions.

Dinka or Jieng is a Nilotic dialect cluster spoken by the Dinka people, the major ethnic group of South Sudan. There are several main varieties, Ngok, Rek, Agaar, Awiel, Twic Mayardit, Hol, Nyarweng, Twi and Bor, which are distinct enough though mutually intelligible to require separate literary standards.

Jaang, Jieng or Monyjieng is used as a general term to cover all Jieng languages. Rek is the standard and prestige dialect.

The closest non-Jieng language is Nuer, the language of the Dinka's traditional rivals. The Luo languages are also closely related.

The Jieng are found mainly along the Nile, specifically the west bank of the White Nile, a major tributary flowing north from Uganda, north and south of the Sudd marsh in southwestern and south central Sudan in three provinces: Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile and Southern Kurdufan.

Linguists divide Dinka into five languages or dialect clusters corresponding to their geographic location with respect to each other:

Northeastern and western: Padang da Ayuel jiel (Abarlang, Nyiel, Ageer, Dongjol). Luac da (Akook, Wieu, Aguer), Ngok de Jok (Upper Nile), Rut, Thoi, Western: Ngok de Jok Athuorkok (Abiei), Ngok de Jok da Awet and Kuel of Ruweeng (Panaru, Aloor and Paweny)

South Central: Aliap, Ciec (Jang), Gok, and Agar

Southeastern (Bor): Bor (Bor Super, Bor proper, Bor South, Bor Asili), Ngok-Alual/Padang da Ayuel Jiel (Hol, Nyaarweng, and Twic)

Southwestern: Rek, Abiem, Aguók, Apuk, Awan, Kuac, Lóu, Luac/Luanyjang, Malual or Malualgiernyang, Paliët, Paliëupiny, Twic

Southern Sudan has been described as a large basin gently sloping northward through which flow the Bahr el Jebel River, the (White Nile), the Bahr el Ghazal (Nam) River and its tributaries, and the Sobat, all merging into a vast barrier swamp.

Vast Sudanese oil areas to the south and east are part of the flood plain, a basin in the southern Sudan into which the rivers of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia drain off from an ironstone plateau that belts the regions of Bahr El Ghazal and Upper Nile.

The terrain is divided into four land classes:

Highlands: higher than the surrounding plains by only a few centimeters; are the sites for permanent settlements. Vegetation consists of open thorn woodland and/or open mixed woodland with grasses.

Intermediate Lands: lie slightly below the highlands, commonly subject to flooding from heavy rainfall in the Ethiopian and East/Central African highlands, Vegetation is mostly open perennial grassland with some acacia woodland and other sparsely distributed trees.

Toic: land seasonally inundated or saturated by the main rivers and inland water-courses, retaining enough moisture throughout the dry season to support cattle grazing.

Sudd: permanent swampland below the level of the toic; covers a substantial part of the floodplain in which the Dinka reside; provides good fishing but is not available for livestock; historically it has been a physical barrier to outsiders’ penetration.

Ecology of large basin is unique; until recently, wild animals and birds flourished, hunted rarely by the agro-pastoralists.

The Dinka or Jieeng people has fifty six subdivisions: Rek of Wau (Dinka Marial Baai), Palieupiny Malual, Pajook Malual (Malual Gieernyaang/ Malual Buoth Anyaar), Paliet Malual, Abiem Malual, Twic Mayaardit, Kuac Ayok, Awan Chan, Awan Mou, Wan Parek, Aguok Kuei, Apuk Giir, Apuk Padooc, Apuk Jurwiir, Konggoor, Abiem Mayaar, Lou Ariik, Lou Paheer, Luac (Luanyjang), Luac (Luanykoth), Akook, Thiik, Jalwau, Nyang Akoc, Abuook, Atok, Noi, Leer, Muok, Yaar Ayiei Cikom, Thony, Gok, Kuei (Agaar), Rup (Agaar), Pakam (Agaar), Parial (Agaar), Yak (Agaar), Atuot, Ciec, Aliap, Bor, Twi (Twic of Jonglei), Nyarweng, Hol, Luac Akok Yiew(Luac of Khorfulus), Rut, Thoi, Ruweng Paweny, Ngok Lual Yak (Ngok of Malakal), Dongjol, Nyiel, Ageer, Abialaang, Ruweng Paanaruu, Ruweng Aloor and Ngok Jok (Ngok of Abyei).

The Rek, Padaang, Malual and Agaar are groups which are composed of independent sub-divisions, each with known borders and a customary authority which managed the affairs of the section alongside governmental structures.

There is no such thing as Rek paramount Chief, but Rek paramount chiefs.

The number of Dinka sub-divisions is hotly contested as the border or line between group, sub-division and sections is blurred and often difficult to determine.

For example, one can divide the Atuot into Apak and Reel, Boor into Athooc and Gok, and Panaruu into Awet and Kuel and Ciec into Ador and Lou where Ador is sub-divided into Gok and Ajiek.

Malual is the largest of those groups, numbering over a million people. The Dinka's migrations are determined by the local climate, their agro-pastoral lifestyle responding to the periodic flooding and dryness of the area in which they live.

They begin moving around May–June at the onset of the rainy season to their permanent settlements of mud and thatch housing above flood level, where they plant their crops of millet and other grain products.

These rainy season settlements usually contain other permanent structures such as cattle byres or luaak and granaries. During dry season beginning about December–January, everyone except the aged, ill, and nursing mothers migrates to semi-permanent dwellings in the toic for cattle grazing.

The cultivation of sorghum, millet, and other crops begins in the highlands in the early rainy season and the harvest of crops begins when the rains are heavy in June–August.

Cattle are driven to the toic in September and November when the rainfall drops off and allowed to graze on harvested stalks of the crops.

The Dinkas' pastoral lifestyle is also reflected in their religious beliefs and practices. Since the arrival of Abrahamic religions most revere one God, Nhialic, who speaks through spirits that take temporary possession of individuals in order to speak through them.

The sacrificing of oxen by the masters of the fishing spear is a central component of Dinka religious practice. Age is an important factor in Dinka culture, with young men being inducted into adulthood through an initiation ordeal which includes marking the forehead with a sharp object.

Also during this ceremony they acquire a second cow-colour name. The Dinka believe they derive religious power from nature and the world around them, rather than from a religious tome.

The Dinka's religions, beliefs and lifestyle have led to conflict with the Arab Muslim government in Khartoum.

The Sudan People's Liberation Army, led by late Dr. John Garang De Mabior, a Dinka, took arms against the government in 1983. During the subsequent 21-year civil war, many thousands of Dinka, along with fellow non-Dinka southerners, were massacred by government forces.

The Dinka, led by Salva Kiir Mayardit, have also engaged in a separate civil war with the Nuer and other groups who accuse them of monopolising power.

Sizable groups of Dinka refugees may be found in distant lands, including the United States, Jacksonville, Florida and Clarkston, a working-class suburb of Atlanta, Georgia and in the Midwest such as Omaha NE, Des Moines IA, Sioux Falls SD, and Kansas City MO, as well as Edmonton in Canada, and Melbourne and Sydney in Australia.

The experience of Dinka refugees was portrayed in the documentary movies Lost Boys of Sudan by Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk and God Grew Tired Of Us, Joan Hechts' book The Journey of the Lost Boys and the fictionalized autobiography of a Dinka refugee, Dave Eggers' What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng.

Other books on and by the Lost Boys include The Lost Boys of Sudan by Mark Bixler, God Grew Tired of Us by John Bul Dau, They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky by Alephonsion Deng, Benson Deng, and Benjamin Ajak and, "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park.

In 2004 the first volume of the graphic novel 'Echoes of the Lost Boys of Sudan' was released in Dallas, Texas, United States, chronicling in art and dialogue four lost boys' escapes from the destruction of their hometowns in South Sudan.

On November 15, 1991 the event known as the Dinkas Massacre commenced in South Sudan. Forces led by the breakaway faction of Riek Machar deliberately killed an estimated 2,000 civilians in Dinkas of Hol, Nyarweng, Twic, Bor and others in villages and wounded several thousand more over the course of two months.

It is estimated a 100,000 people left the area following the attack. Jieng People also killed in 1991 tribal massacre were people of Khorfulus and Ngok Lual Yak where about 500 people were killed, over 7000 herds of cattle taken, and thousand of houses burnt.

The area however remained under the control of SPLA under the commandership of late Gen. George Athor Deng who lated defeated Riek Machar forces in Panyagor when he reinforced Wuor Mabior of Duk.

Remarkable Dinka People:

Deng Adut, defence lawyer and former child soldier

Abel Alier, known as Wal Kwai, the first southerner to become Vice President of Sudan in 1972

Aliir Aliir, Australian Rules Footballer

Francis Bok, author

Manute Bol, former NBA player, one of the two tallest players in the league's history

John Bul Dau also known as Dhieu Deng Leek, one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan", author of God Grew Tired of Us, his autobiography, and subject of the documentary of the same title

Majak Daw, Australian Rules Footballer

Aldo Deng, former Sudanese cabinet member and current South Sudanese statesman; father of Luol Deng

Ataui Deng, fashion model and niece of Alek Wek

Lt. General Dominic Dim Deng, South Sudan's first political officer of SPLA, Minister for SPLA Affairs

Francis Deng, author, SAIS research professor

Luol Deng, NBA player

Ustaz/ Luis Anei Kuendit - Former Governor of Warrap, Ministerial Advisor to Ministry of Youth and Author of General Geaorge Athor

Late Gen.George Athor Deng - A man who defeated Dr. Riek Rebellion of 1991 and leader of SSDM/A

Valentino Achak Deng, a former Lost Boy and subject of What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, a biographical novel written by Dave Eggers

Salva Dut, a former Lost Boy, inspiration of the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

John Garang, former First Vice President of Sudan, Commander in Chief of Sudan People's Liberation Army and Chairman of Sudan People's Liberation Movement and founding father of South Sudan

Philip Aguer Panyang, former SPLA spokesman, currently serving as the Governor of Jongulei state.

Ater Majok, former NBA player

Thon Maker, current NBA player

Guor Marial, Olympic marathon runner

Lt. General Salva Kiir Mayardit, Dr. Garang's successor as First Vice President of Sudan, the First President of the Republic of South Sudan, Commander in Chief of Sudan People's Liberation Army and Chairman of Sudan People's Liberation Movement

Kuol Manyang Juuk, current Minister of defense and a former commander of SPLA high command.

Alek Wek, International fashion model



Tourism Observer

SOUTH SUDAN: Civil War Tranforms Into Genocide

South Sudan was founded in 2011, and now it’s on the edge of collapse: Forces allied to the president and vice president have been fighting along tribal lines.

Murderous raids on civilian communities are a favored tactic, and UN peacekeepers have been criticized for not doing more to stop them. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The world’s youngest country is tearing itself apart. South Sudan was founded in 2011, but, two years later, forces allied to the president and vice president began fighting each other. That civil war has now led to the near collapse of the country.

In partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, special correspondent Jane Ferguson begins a series of three reports.

Tonight is a look at this brutal war and its tribal roots.

And a warning: Some images and stories in this report are disturbing.

JANE FERGUSON: This was once a busy market town. Villagers from the countryside would come to Leer to trade goods and catch up on news. Now there is no one. All the people have fled into the bush, hiding from violent raids by government soldiers.

We found some of them a few miles away in rebel-held land. They had crept out of hiding to get help from aid agencies. Without it, they will starve. Their stories of what they have endured are horrifying.

RUOT MACHAR, Displaced Person (through interpreter): The government is killing men, women and children, and sometimes they even cook the dead bodies and force us to eat them. My 5-year-old daughter was slaughtered, and they made me eat her body.

JANE FERGUSON: Tales of such brutality are common in South Sudan’s civil war. A fallout between president Salva Kiir and his vice president, Riek Machar, began in 2013, tearing the country along tribal lines.

Kiir is from the Dinka tribe, Machar from the rival Nuer tribe. Fighting between the two sides soon involved other subtribes. Battles broke out across the country. Murderous raids on civilian communities are a favored tactic, according to Jonathan Pedneault of Human Rights Watch.

JONATHAN PEDNEAULT, Human Rights Watch: Both opposition and government fighters see various specific ethnic groups as being supportive of their — either of their opponents. And in order to decrease the military capacities of their opponents, they decide to target civilians, because, without civilians, those fighters won’t have a place to stay, they won’t receive food, they won’t receive popular support.

So, the aim by targeting civilians is, in effect, to cut the grass under the feet of those fighters.

JANE FERGUSON: This is what ethnic cleansing looks like. Entire populations of specific tribes are being forced out of areas in South Sudan.

Malakal town was a mixture of tribes. Government and opposition forces have been fighting over it throughout the war, both committing atrocities. Each time the town changed hands, civilians of a specific tribe were targeted. It’s now controlled by Dinka government soldiers.

Entire neighborhoods, where the Nuer and other tribes at risk used to live, lay silent and empty, the grass reclaiming streets that used to be home for so many.

We are not allowed to get out and film in the town center. There’s lots of police and army around, but what there aren’t are civilians who live here. This was once South Sudan’s second biggest city. And the streets and neighborhoods are completely abandoned now. Civilians are fleeing towns and cities across South Sudan because of repeated attacks. And they’re just turning into ghost towns.

They ran to this camp just outside the town. It is a dusty, miserable place, where sewage runs between shacks and desperately poor survivors of the violence try to go on living.

Elizabeth is one of them. A single mother of six, she sells cups of tea in the camp to earn some money. But the memory of what happened in the town is always with her.

ELIZABETH SHOL ROUT, South Sudan (through interpreter): I saw many people killed, including my brother. They called my brother to come out of the house and shot him in front of me.

JANE FERGUSON: The only thing standing between her and the government soldiers are U.N. peacekeeping soldiers. They guard this camp and others like it across South Sudan, trying to stop more massacres.

The U.N. said in December in a statement South Sudan is on the brink of all-out genocide, similar to what happened in Rwanda in 1994. And yet its peacekeepers seem unwilling or unable to stop it.

Last year, government soldiers forced their way into the camp, and over several days murdered more than 25 people and injured and raped many others.

Elizabeth shows us where they came in. She remains bitter that the U.N. soldiers didn’t stop them.

ELIZABETH SHOL ROUT (through interpreter): They did nothing. When they saw the soldiers cut the fence and come into the camp, they just opened the gate to allow the people to escape.

JANE FERGUSON: There are over 13,000 U.N. peacekeeping soldiers in South Sudan. More than 200,000 civilians have fled to their bases across the country when targeted by the violence, forcing the U.N. to create guarded camps in order to protect the people.

Despite having authority to use force if needed to stop attacks against civilians, the peacekeepers have come under criticism for not doing so when attacks have happened in front of them.

MOUSTAPHA SOUMARE, United Nations: Peacekeeping, and that’s all it is. It’s really you keep peace. So, normally, the people who come in peacekeeping, the troops and so on, are really prepared in the spirit of peacekeeping, not really entering into direct fight.

JANE FERGUSON: Despite this, he says the U.N. have now pushed their forces to improve.

MOUSTAPHA SOUMARE: They have been instructed that, if you see something like that, you make a warning shot. If people are — really not responded, you can actually use your firearm on that.

JANE FERGUSON: South Sudan is the world’s youngest nation, and the international community played a major part in its creation. After decades of devastating civil war with the North, South Sudan finally won its independence with a referendum in 2011.

American church groups and politicians had campaigned for the peaceful birth of the nation for years. But it was South Sudanese fighters, community leaders and advocates who sacrificed so much to see this country find its freedom.

One of them was Alfred Taban. A veteran journalist and newspaper editor, he was jailed and tortured repeatedly for years in the northern capital of Khartoum for calling for independence.

ALFRED TABAN, Journalist: Well, I knew we were going to succeed. I knew we had not — we had not done anything bad. We were struggling for our rights as human beings. And that’s what led me to survive. I knew we will succeed.

JANE FERGUSON: After sacrificing so much for his country, its rapid descent into civil war has broken his heart.

ALFRED TABAN: The killing of one another started, the Nuers being killed, the Dinkas being killed and other tribes, then I knew things had really gone bad. Then I knew that partly we — or they themselves, they were not only struggling for the people, but they were struggling for themselves to lead or to rule. I became very, very disappointed.

JANE FERGUSON: In frustration, he wrote a column in the newspaper he runs calling for the leaders of both sides in this war to step down. Shortly after, the government he sacrificed his freedom for jailed him for nearly two weeks.

ALFRED TABAN: They were not struggling for their people. They were struggling for themselves. And this is why really the struggle of the people of South Sudan has been hijacked from the very beginning. It has become a struggle for position and wealth, not a struggle for the betterment of the lives of the people of South Sudan.

JANE FERGUSON: Yet neither side in this war is backing down. It is spiraling into a frenzy of ethnic-driven murder and revenge. The dream of a peaceful South Sudan is dying with its people.

For the PBS NewsHour, I’m Jane Ferguson in Juba, South Sudan.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the record, the South Sudanese information minister canceled an interview with Jane Ferguson to respond to charges against the government.

Tomorrow, Jane reports on the famine that the war has caused.

SOUTH SUDAN: 17 Men Arrested For Practicing Fattening

Authorities in Apuk East and South counties have arrested 17 men after they were found still practicing fattening, which the state government has provisionally banned.

Fattening is a practice in the Dinka culture where some men during this season takes 5 to 15 milking cows and go out of the area for some days or weeks. They feed on milk only and do not work in order to become very fat. After the end of an agreed period then these men will go back to the area for a competition to prove who is the fattest one.

A drum can be hung on a stand and one of them beats it and if the stand breaks and the drum falls down, then that person is the winner of the competition.

But this year the government of Gogrial state said this cultural practice is not good as it encourages laziness in the society because it is carried out during the farming season. Abraham Gum, the state governor explained, “It is a problem of youth whom I have given a provisional order that there is no person to make any fattening this year because it is a year for hunger.”

“When you took some cows to go and make your fattening alone it is prohibited from the state and I got some people from Apuk East and Apuk South, they were 17 in number and they are more than that. Some ran and we captured 17 and I put them into prison in Liet Nhom now and they are going to be taken to court because they have violated the provisional order,” added the governor.
He was speaking after his return from his home area Apuk.

Also the traditional leaders of Apuk and Aguok communities at a recent peace conference held at Pan Nyuom have unanimously agreed to prohibit fattening in all 13 counties of the state with effect from the time the conference was concluded.

SOUTH SUDAN: 7 And 15 Day Migration Safaris

Migrating Tiang Antelope

7 and 15 Day Migration Safaris

In South Sudan exists the greatest migration of large mammals on the face of the earth. Wildlife biologists believe it is greater than the migration in the Serengeti. This safari goes by vehicle into wilderness to view the migration.

Safari Route 6 goes deep into the roadless wilderness of Boma National Park (the 5th largest park in africa), using GPS coordinates to navigate to radio collared animals.

Going in and out of the area of the migration, the safari vehicles pass through Murle, Toposa and Jie villages giving you a chance to photograph these traditional people.The dates are in the dry season with little to no rain and high day time temperatures.

Safari Route 5 goes deep into the roadless wilderness of Badingalo National Park, using GPS coordinates to navigate to radio collared animals.

Only one or two base camps will be created during this safari date, ranging out ward to find the migrating animals. Bari, Mundari and Dinka villages will be encountered. The dates are in the wet season with considerable rain and moderate temperatures.

DATES OF SAFARIS- Route 6: 2016 - March 2-16 (15 days)

2017 - January 3-17, Feb 3-17 and Mar 19-Apr 2 (15 days)

- Route 5: 2016 June 20-26, July 8-14, and Aug 1-7 (7 days)

PRICES - 15 Day Route 6 into Boma National Park $4860 usd per person

- 7 Day Route 5 into Badingalo National Park $2750 usd per person.

For the itinerary and what is included look at routes 5 & 6 on our web page 15 day safaris.

One Day add-on to Fly over the Migration

We also offer the ability to fly over the migration by aircraft one day prior to the above safari dates, starting in June 2016.

About 1 million White-eared kob antelope migrate into Boma National Park from Ethiopìa in January-March. Additionally Tiang Antelope, Mongalla Gazella, Elephant and Nile Buffalo are migrating making the total animals moving around 2 million, as they search for grazing.