Qualla: Mankien

Mankien: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Before dawn on January 27, 2002, Sudanese government troops and allied militias attacked Mankien under the cover of helicopter gunships. The town at that time was held by the Sudan People's Liberation Army and was sheltering a large population of displaced civilians who had fled earlier fighting. The high-altitude bombing that preceded the attack, conducted from Antonov transport planes converted into bomb platforms, had already caused random casualties for weeks. When the ground assault came, it was effective and it was comprehensive. Many people died. The town was destroyed. Four months later, in May 2002, the SPLA lost what was left to the pro-government militia of Paulino Matiep Nhial. This is not a unique story in the history of South Sudan's Unity State, but it is a story that Mankien, and the Bul Nuer community whose town this is, have lived through several times in the span of a single generation.

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Mankien: The Oil Underneath

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Mankien sits in Mayom County in the northwest of Unity State, in the Greater Upper Nile region. It is primarily a Bul Nuer town, set in the open savannah southwest of Mayom. The fact that has shaped its recent history is geological: the town lies inside the Block 4 oil concession...

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Mankien: Militia Politics

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In March 1998 Major General Paulino Matiep announced in Mankien the formation of his South Sudan Unity Army, recruiting Bul Nuer boys and men with weapons provided by Khartoum. This was one of several proxy militias the Sudanese government used to defend the oilfields without com...

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Mankien: Antonovs Overhead

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Between 1999 and 2002 Mankien passed through several cycles of occupation, bombing, and counter-attack. Antonovs rolled oil drums packed with explosives out of their rear cargo doors at altitudes where no radar would see them. The drums fell roughly where gravity sent them. Somet...

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Mankien: After 2005, After 2011

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, a humanitarian survey of the region around Mankien found that 4% of the population was blind and almost 8% had poor vision, a consequence of untreated trachoma and other diseases that had gone unaddressed during the war. In April 2011...

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