Yuai is the capital of

Uror County Uror County is an administrative area of Bieh state in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. It has nine payams: Pathai, Pieri, Pulchuol, Palouny, Motdit, Motot Motot (also spelled Mwot Tot) is a town in the Uror County of Jonglei Sta ...

Jonglei State Jonglei State is a States of South Sudan, state of South Sudan with Bor, South Sudan, Bor as its centre of government and the biggest city. Jonglei state comprises nine counties: Bor District (South Sudan), Bor, Akobo County, Akobo, Ayod County, ...

in the

Greater Upper Nile The Greater Upper Nile () is a region of northeastern South Sudan. It is named for the White Nile (it is its lowest portion in South Sudan), a tributary of the Nile River in North Africa, North and East Africa, East Africa. History The Greater ...

region of

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

. It is the most populous place in

. It has historically been associated with the

Nuer White Army The Nuer White Army, sometimes decapitalised as the "white army", is a semi-official name for an ethnic Nuer militant organization in central and eastern Greater Upper Nile in modern-day South Sudan formed around 1991. According to the Small Arm ...

History

Yuai was a garrison of the

SPLA-Nasir The SPLA-Nasir was a splinter faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a rebel group that fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Originally created as an attempt by the Nuer people, Nuer tribe to replace SPLA leader John Garang in A ...

during the

Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement, Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil Wa ...

. It was attacked by the SPLA in 1993. Yuai was one of the Lou Nuer areas where fighting occurred during the forced

disarmament of the Lou Nuer The disarmament of the Lou Nuer was a forcible disarmament campaign undertaken by the SPLA in Southern Sudan in December 2005. While other groups had been peacefully disarmed, the Lou section of the Nuer in Northern Jonglei State refused to c ...

in 2006. A conference was held in Yuai from February 27 to March 7 to convince the Lou Nuer to disarm, but it was unsuccessful. After the outbreak of the

South Sudanese Civil War The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan fought from 2013 to 2020, between forces of the government and opposition forces. The civil war caused rampant human rights abuses, including forced displacement, ethnic mas ...

, Yuai quickly came under the control of the SPLA-IO. On December 20, 2013, two

UNMISS The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission for South Sudan, which became independent on 9 July 2011. UNMISS was established on 8 July 2011 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996 (20 ...

helicopters were fired on by anti-government forces when evacuating military personnel and

internally displaced persons An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced displacement, forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the Refugee#Definitions ...

in Yuai. One of the helicopters was damaged. The deteriorating security caused the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

to relocate its personnel from Yuai. By August 2014, there were 14,000

in the Yuai area. In August 2016,

SPLM-IO The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (abbreviated SPLM-IO), also known as the anti-governmental forces (AGF), is a mainly South Sudanese political party and rebel group that split from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in 2 ...

officials detained a charted

Kenyan The Demographics of Kenya is monitored by the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics. Kenya is a multi-ethnic state in East Africa. Its total population was at 47,558,296 as of the 2019 census. A national census was conducted in 1999, although t ...

chartered plane when it landed in Yuai. In February 2017, Yuai, which had been peaceful throughout the

, began experiencing clashes. The SPLA took Yuai without heavy fighting on February 15, 2017, but the SPLA-IO launched unsuccessful an attack to retake the town the next morning. The SPLA-IO attacked Yuai on March 12, 2017 but was repulsed. The SPLA-IO claimed to have killed 93 and destroyed a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

and two other military vehicles while losing 5 killed and 9 wounded in the attack, while the SPLA claimed they killed 23 and injured 50 without any losses. There was fighting between the SPLA and SPLA-IO around Yuai from April 12–13, 2017.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), known in some English-speaking settings as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zo ...

reported in June 2017 that 27,000 people had fled Yuai and

Waat Waat is a village in the Nyirol County of Jonglei State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; ...

since February of that year. Yuai was part of

until the reorganization of states in 2015, in which Yuai became part of Eastern Bieh State. Eastern Bieh State was later renamed

Bieh State Bieh State (previously named Eastern Bieh State) was a state in South Sudan that existed between 2 October 2015 and 22 February 2020. It was located in the Greater Upper Nile region and it bordered Fangak to the west, Central Upper Nile to the ...

. Since 2020 it is again part of the reconstituted Jonglei State.

References

Populated places in Jonglei State {{SouthSudan-geo-stub