Yei, South Sudan

The name Yei was given to the location where the current city stands by three traditional chiefs, one each from the Pojulu, Gimunu and Azande ethnic groups. The chiefs also conferred the name to the river that flows through the area and is now called River Yei. The three above ethnic groups had a traditional rivalry with the Kakwa, who also occupy neighbouring parts of Uganda and DRC. The first three ethnicities traditionally were found in what today is called Mukaya Payam, while the Kakwa were found in Marakonye Payam. They lived in co-existence with other smaller ethnicities, having rivalries from time to time.

At the end of the nineteenth century, under the rule of the Congo Free State, a government military station was created at Yei [3], where the road to the Nile crossed the Yei river[4]. On taking over the Lado Enclave in 1910, the Anglo-Egyptian government immediately made Yei the centre of a campaign to fight sleeping sickness[5]. In 1951, British missionaries built a small medical clinic on the northern bank of River Yei.

Before the onset of the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983 - 2005), Yei was a thriving urban, commercial center. Due to its location, at the borders of Uganda and DRC, the city handled a lot of commerce between the three neighboring countries. At that time, it attracted visitors, from as far away as Juba, about 170 kilometres (110 mi), by road, to the north of Yei. Civil servants and other Juba residents would flock to Yei on weekends to participate in the exchange of goods and services offered in the many bars, shops and hotels. Yei became known as Small London because of its cosmopolitan nature.

In course of the civil war, the area around Yei became the center of two Ugandan rebel movements that were supported by the Sudanese government, namely the WNBF and UNRF (II). Both waged an insurgency in Uganda, but also fought alongside the Sudanese government against the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels. The SPLA eventually launched a major offensive (codenamed Operation Thunderbolt) against Yei in early 1997, effectively destroying the WNBF and UNRF (II) and capturing Yei itself in January 7th 1997.[6] The town remained under SPLA control until the end of the civil war. Following its capture in 1997, the SPLA fortified and turned Yei into a garrison town.

The presence of large numbers of SPLA in town attracted air raids and shelling from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The population fled and the SPLA brought in more troops, who started families and started to grow the population of the city again. As the city became safer, later during the civil war, South Sudanese displaced from other parts of the country, particularly from the Bahr el Ghazal Region, began flocking to Yei for safety, and later for humanitarian assistance (food, medicine and housing).

Following the cessation of major hostilities and the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, South Sudanese who had fled to Uganda and DRC began to return, and many chose Yei as their entry point. Due to the relative safety in the city, and the ready availability of International humanitarian aid, many of the returnees from other South Sudanese states chose to stay in Yei, instead of proceeding to their respective states of origin. This has created tension between the returnees who are native to Yei on one hand, and the IDPs who are native to other areas in South Sudan on the other. Local authorities and international aid partners are still grappling with finding acceptable, equitable and permanent solutions to the land claims and counter-claims and the resulting wrangles. And more returnees were coming in 2011.[7]

In 2016, Yei has reportedly been depopulated as a result of conflict during the South Sudanese Civil War.[8]