Mongalla or Mangalla is a Payam in

Juba County Juba County is an administrative area in Central Equatoria state, South Sudan. It was the largest county in Central Equatoria and one of the largest in the entire region of Equatoria. Its county seat was Juba, the state capital of Central Equat ...

, Central Equatoria State in

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

, on the east side of the Bahr al Jebel or White Nile river. It lies about 75 km by road northeast of

Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a populatio ...

. The towns of

Terekeka Terekeka is a community in Central Equatoria, South Sudan. It is the headquarters of Terekeka County.Bor lie downstream, north of Mongalla. During the colonial era, Mongalla was capital of Mongalla Province, which reached south to Uganda and east towards Ethiopia. On 7 December 1917 the last of the northern Sudanese troops were withdrawn from Mongalla, replaced by Equatorial troops. These southern and at least nominally Christian troops remained the only permanent garrison of the town and province until their mutiny in August 1955. Mongalla and the surrounding province was then absorbed into Equatoria Province in 1956. The town was taken and retaken more than once 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. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originate ...

(1983–2005). An experimental station was established to grow sugar at Mongalla in the 1950s, and there were plans to establish commercial operations. However, after independence in 1956 the Khartoum government shifted the sugar project to the north, where it is grown under much less favorable conditions with heavy irrigation. A sugar, clothing, and a weaving factory was established in Mongalla in the 1970s but operations failed to get beyond their trial phase and diminished as conflict grew in the region in the early 1980s. In April 2006 the President of Southern Sudan,

Salva Kiir Mayardit Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 13 September 1951), also known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who has been the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the President of the Governmen ...

, named Mongalla as one of the Nile ports to be the first to be rehabilitated. Mongalla is an important center for gauging the flow of the Nile, with measurements taken regularly from 1905 until 1983, and since 2004.

History and politics

Early colonial period

After the final defeat of the

Caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

(Khalifa) by the British under General

Herbert Kitchener Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, (; 24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916) was a senior British Army officer and colonial administrator. Kitchener came to prominence for his imperial campaigns, his scorched earth policy against the Boers, h ...

in 1898, the Nile up to the

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

border became part of the

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...

. An expedition upriver from Omdurman (Ondurman) arrived in December 1900. The post that had been established at

Kiro Kiro was a colonial post in what is now the Central Equatoria province of South Sudan on the west side of the Bahr al Jebel or White Nile river. It was in part of the Lado enclave. In 1900 there were said to be 1,500 troops from the Congo Free ...

was transferred to Mongalla in April 1901 since Kiro was claimed to be in Belgian territory. During 1904 posts were established where needed in the Mongalla districts to suppress the activities of "Abyssinian brigands who infested the country". Until 1906 Mongalla province was part of the Upper Nile province, after which it became a separate administration. The first governor was Angus Cameron, appointed in January 1906. A party from the Anglican

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

(CMS) arrived the same month, but decided it was not suitable for a base and instead located the mission downstream at Bor. The colonial administration opposed efforts by the CMS to convert the Bor and Bari people of Mongalla. The missionaries interpreted this as due to the influence of Islam in weakening the spiritual ideals of the officials. Cameron desired to avoid friction with the Muslims who had undertaken most of the work of building and servicing the new provincial capital. In 1910

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

visited the province. Before his arrival, Governor R.C.R. Owen informed Governor General Sir

Reginald Wingate General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, 1st Baronet, (25 June 1861 – 29 January 1953) was a British general and administrator in Egypt and the Sudan. He earned the ''nom de guerre'' Wingate of the Sudan. Early life Wingate was born at Port Gla ...

that everything would be done for the former president of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but also pointed out that his troops had not even one donkey. Roosevelt's expedition reached Mongalla at the end of February, coming from the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

via the Lado Enclave. He was impressed by the Egyptian and Sudanese troops, but when visiting a native dance he commented on the lack of middle-aged men, a result of the Mahdist wars that had ended over ten years ago. In June 1910 the British Sudanese forces took over the Lado Enclave from the Belgians, becoming part of the province of Mongalla. The Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries requested that Sunday be retained as a sabbath at Lado, as it had been under the Belgians, rather than changed to Friday as it had in the rest of the Sudan. However, Governor Owen opposed retaining Sunday; he felt that the more "bigoted" Muslims in the army would object to working on Friday, and noted that all recruits to the army were instructed in the Muslim religion. ReginaldWingate

A few months later, however, Owen proposed creation of an Equatorial battalion composed entirely of southerners. This force would be taught to follow English commands and the Christian faith, which would, over time, unite with Uganda and would prevent spread of the Muslim faith farther south. He was against Islam on the basis that it "may at any time break out into a wave of fanaticism". Owen's plan was approved by Wingate. Wingate said "...we must remember that the bulk of the inhabitants ... are not Moslems (Muslims) at all, that the whole of Uganda has accepted Chritianity almost without a murmur, and that furthermore English is a very much easier language to learn than Arabic...". In 1913, the government increased restrictions on private travel and immigrants, which meant anybody arriving in Mongalla and wishing to go north from the

or the

could be examined for sleeping sickness by a medical officer. The maximum punishment for any breach of the new regulations was a £10 fine or a 6-month prison sentence. On 7 December 1917 the last of the northern Sudanese troops were withdrawn from Mongalla, replaced by Equatorial troops. These southern and at least nominally Christian troops remained the only permanent garrison of the town and province until their mutiny in August 1955. When Hasan Sharif, son of Khalifa Muhammad Sahif, was exiled to Mongalla in 1915 after taking place in a conspiracy in Omdurman, Governor Owen said "...I told him he is lucky to come and see this part of Sudan for nothing, when tourists pay hundreds of pounds ... I fear he doesn't see the joke...". Owen retired in 1918. Major Cecil Stephen Northcote succeeded him as Governor of Mongala from 1918 to 1919, then moved on to become Governor of the Nuba Mountains province. The Sudan was very lightly administered. As late as 1919 there were just 17 British administrators in the Bahr al-Ghazal and Mongalla provinces, with a combined area twice that of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. In the early years, British officials depended on native officials for advice and to act as interpreters. However, they had to be careful about ethnic rivalries. Thus Fadl el-Mula, a

Dinka The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile (two out ...

who had been a police quartermaster, greatly impressed the Governor of Mongalla and was appointed assistant superintendent of the Twic Dinka in 1909. He was credited with keeping the peace between the Dinka and the Nuer people, two groups with a history of fighting and cattle raiding. However, Fadl el-Mula was so strongly biased towards the Dinka that his police were attacked by angry Nuer and he had to be removed from his post. The Arabic language and the Muslim religion continued to be spread in South Sudan by merchants and administrators from the North, and even by British officials who preferred to speak Arabic rather than learn the local language. A rising by the

Aliab Dinka The Aliab Dinka are a subdivision of the Dinka people of South Sudan. They traditionally lived in an area west of the upper White Nile river. The name is also used to refer to a breed of cattle maintained by the Aliab Dinka people and widespread i ...

in 1919 was suppressed harshly in 1920. That year the Nuer were attacking both the Dinka and the

Burun people Burun is an ethnic group of Sudan and South Sudan. They live in and around the Upper Nile Valley in Northern part of Maiwut State. They speak Burun, a Nilotic language. This ethnic group numbers about 8,000 persons, according to 2008 South Sudan ...

on the border with Ethiopia. The governor of Mongalla in 1920, V.R. Woodland, said that Mongalla at the time was "in such a muck-up state he doesn't know where to start". Woodland called for a decision; either South Sudan should be separated from the north and administered as a territory in the same way as Uganda, or the British should encourage development by the Arabs within the structure of the North Sudan. Nothing was done.

Later colonial period (1920–1956)

The Mongalla region suffered an outbreak of

cerebrospinal meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or a ...

(CSM) between 1918 and 1924, apparently introduced by Ugandan porters who had served in

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozam ...

during World War I. CSM caused high mortality for a six-year period as it spread from one family to another. A less devastating CSM epidemic started in 1926, causing 335 deaths in 1928, 446 in 1929 and 335 in the first three months of 1930 before rapidly dying out. Dr. Alexander Cruikshank of the Sudan Medical Services attributed the epidemic in part to poor housing conditions. The

Azande people The Azande are an Ubangian ethnic group in Central Africa. They live in the south-central and southwestern part of South Sudan, southeastern Central African Republic, and northeastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congolese ...

of the western part of the province avoided the disease. They had a better diet and less crowded quarters than the Dinka and Nuer people in the centre of the province. Airplanes began being used in the Sudan in the 1920s, with revolutionary effect on military and civilian administration. Flying was hazardous, however. On 4 July 1929 a Fokker FViib/3m owned by the Belgian financier Albert Lowenstein crashed at Mongalla. There were no deaths, but the plane was severely damaged. A Singapore flying boat built by

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

made a flight around Africa in 1929. Starting from

Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...

, the plane flew to

Aboukir Bay The Abū Qīr Bay (sometimes transliterated Abukir Bay or Aboukir Bay) (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Khalīj Abū Qīr) is a spacious bay on the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria in Egypt, lying between the Rosetta mouth of the Nile a ...

, then up the Nile to Mongalla, which was reached at the end of January, and onward to

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. T ...

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

. During the 1920s the British steadily expanded control over the South Sudan. The Deputy governor of Mongalla, Major R.G.C. Brock, estimated that he had added 50,000 Toposa and related people to the eastern half of his province, a somewhat inflated figure. By establishing strong central control, the British eroded whatever authority the traditional rulers may have had. In 1929 the British governor of Mongalla province said "the government support which can be given to the chiefs is not worth their while to have". In 1925

Major G.D. Gould Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicator ...

was denied a license to prospect for gold and oil in the east of Mongalla province beyond the

Didinga Hills The Didinga Hills are an upland area in Eastern Equatoria of South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordere ...

. Travel in the Toposa country was dangerous without a large armed escort, and if the Ethiopians had got word of the survey they would have tried to occupy that part of the country. The British began to follow an "Africanization" policy. A directive issued on 25 January 1930 by the Civil Secretary of Sudan to the governors of Upper Nile, Bahr al-Ghazal and Mongalla said: "The policy of the government in the southern Sudan is to build up series of self-contained racial or tribal units with structures and organization based to whatever extent the requirement of equity and good government permits, upon indigenous customs, traditional usage and beliefs". In 1930 the capital of Equatoria (southern Sudan) was transferred from Mongalla to

, further upstream to the south. The governor of Mongalla province from 1930 until 1936 was Leonard Fielding Nalder, formerly governor of Fung province from 1927 to 1930. In 1935 Nalder reported after a survey of his province that there was a general lack of tribal cohesion. Governor-General Sir

Stewart Symes Sir George Stewart Symes, (29 July 1882 – 5 December 1962) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. Career Symes was born in Kent, the son of Lieutenant Colonel William Alexander Symes of the 71st Highland Light Infantry, and Em ...

at Khartoum had little interest in development of the south of Sudan and he advised the local officials that chiefs should have territorial rather than ethnic authority. In 1936 Mongalla and the Bahr al-Ghazal provinces were incorporated into the Equatoria province, with headquarters at Juba, with parts of Upper Nile province detached.

Civil war

Sudan became independent in 1956, after the outbreak of the

First Sudanese Civil War The First Sudanese Civil War (also known as the Anyanya Rebellion or Anyanya I, after the name of the rebels, a term in the Madi language which means 'snake venom') was a conflict from 1955 to 1972 between the northern part of Sudan and the sou ...

(1955–1972). After the

Addis Ababa Agreement (1972) The Addis Ababa Agreement, also known as the Addis Ababa Accord, was a set of compromises within a 1972 treaty that ended the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) fighting in Sudan. The Addis Ababa accords were incorporated in the Constituti ...

the Jieng Bor and

Murle people The Murle are a Surmic ethnic group inhabiting the Pibor County and Boma area in Greater Pibor Administrative area, South Sudan, as well as parts of southwestern Ethiopia. They have also been referred as ''Beir'' by the Dinka and as ''Jebe'' b ...

lived in relative peace, sharing grazing areas, especially Gok Bor. In mid 1981 this harmony broke down when Murle bandits attacked Jieng Bor cattle camps in several locations around Mongalla. The police were called in by the commissioner of Mongalla, and turned against the Bor Dinka. The SPLM/A exploited this hostility to the Bor Dinka by some Equatorian tribes to gain recruits from the Dinka. Peace broke down and the civil war resumed in 1983. Early in 1985 the Southern Axis of the SPLA under Major

Arok Thon Arok Arok Thon Arok (died 12 February 1998) was a politician from Southern Sudan. He was one of five senior commanders of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), before defecting. Early life Arok was a Dinka Bor from the Twic community of Kongo ...

challenged government forces in Southern Upper Nile,

Eastern Equatoria Eastern Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 73,472 km². The capital is Torit. On October 1, 1972, the state was divided into Imatong and Namorunyang states and was re-established by a peace agreement signed on 22 Febru ...

and Central Equatoria. The Southern Axis captured

Owiny-ki-Bul Owiny Ki-Bul ( Acholi: "sound of the drums") is a village in the state of East Equatoria in South Sudan. It is located about 200 km south of the regional capital, Juba. The village consists of several dozen thatched-roof huts. Owiny Ki-Bul is ...

and Mongalla without difficulty, then crossed the Nile, captured

Terekeka Terekeka is a community in Central Equatoria, South Sudan. It is the headquarters of Terekeka County.Sudan People's Liberation Army The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the army of the South Sudan, Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 198 ...

(SPLA) received a setback at the village of Gut-Makur near Mongalla when they were confronted by well-armed

Mandari people Mandari may refer to: * Mandari people, ethnic group of South Sudan, one of the Nilotic peoples * Mandari dialect, dialect of the Mandari people *Malayalam word for the disease of the eriophyid Eriophyidae is a family of more than 200 genera o ...

. Although willing to fight the Sudan army, the Mandari were not willing to do so under Dinka leadership. In March 1989 Alternate Commander Jok Reng of the SPLA Mainstream recaptured Mongalla with a relatively small force. In the last half of 1989 the SPLA consolidated in towns like Mongalla that surrounded Juba. In late 1991, Mongalla was the scene of clashes between two arms of the SPLA.

Riek Machar Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan. Political life In February 2020, Machar was re-sworn in as first vice president following a revitalised ...

of the SPLM/A Nasir was pushing south towards

Torit Torit is a city of Eastern Equatoria State in South Sudan. History On 18 August 1955, the Equatoria Corps mutinied at Torit, starting the First Sudanese Civil War. In 1964 the military government in Khartoum closed "all the Christian mission ...

, while the SPLM/A Mainstream commander for Equatoria

Kuol Manyang Juuk Kuol Manyang is a South Sudanese politician. He is a member of the SPLM. He became governor of Jonglei state on 15 December 2007, following the first former governor, Philip Thon Leek from Dinka Bor, to curb cattle raiding and abduction of childre ...

wanted to push Riek's forces back to Nuerland. Due to disunity among the southerners, between 1991 and 1994 the NIR was able to recapture many places in South Sudan including Mongalla and also

Ayod Ayod is a town in Jonglei, South Sudan, headquarters of Ayod County. The Nuer people are the main inhabitants. Riek Machar, first vice-president of South Sudan, is the 26th son of the chief of both Ayod and Leer. A study of the village in Decemb ...

, Leer, Akobo,

Pochalla Pochalla (also Pochala, Pochella, Pachella) is a town in South Sudan. Location Pochalla is located in Pochalla County, Boma State, in eastern South Sudan, on the International border with Ethiopia. The town sits on the eastern edge of Boma Nation ...

Pibor Pibor, also called Pibor Post, is a town in South Sudan. Location Pibor located in Pibor County, in Pibor Administrative Area, in eastern South Sudan, near the border with Ethiopia. It lies approximately , by road, northeast of Juba, the capital ...

Waat Waat is a village in the northeastern part of South Sudan. It is located in Nyirol County, Jonglei State Jonglei State is a state of South Sudan with Bor as its centre of government and the biggest city. Jonglei state comprises nine counties ...

Nasir Nasir ( ar, ناصر, translit=Nāṣir) is a masculine given name, commonly found in Arabic which can mean "helper" or "one who gives victory" (grammatically the Stem I masculine singular active participle of consonantal verb root ''n-ṣ-r''). ...

, Kit, Palotaka,

Yirol Yirol is a city in South Sudan. Location It is located in ''Yirol West County'', Lakes State, in central South Sudan. Its location lies approximately , by road, northwest of Juba, the largest city in South Sudan and the capital of that country. ...

, Bor, Torit,

Kapoeta Kapoeta is a town in South Sudan. It is located in Kapoeta South County, in Eastern Equatoria State, in southeastern South Sudan. Location The town lies on the east bank of the Singaita River. The post at Kapoeta was established by Captain K ...

, Parjok and Magwi. Government forces coming from Bor took Mongalla in June 1992 and then turned east toward Torit.

Post-civil war

The

finally ended in January 2005. However, Mongalla continued to suffer at the hands of the

Lord's Resistance Army The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), also known as the Lord's Resistance Movement, is a rebel group and heterodox Christian group which operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Co ...

. Due to the civil war, Mongalla had suffered considerable physical neglect and damage, and population loss. In April 2006 the President of Southern Sudan,

, named Mongalla as one of the Nile ports to be the first to be rehabilitated. He warned that demands for reconstruction spending would be much greater than available funding, so work had to be prioritized. Clearance of the Mongalla minefield was complete in July 2009. Mongalla is an important center for gauging the flow of the Nile, with measurements taken regularly from 1905 until 1983. During most of the

(1983–2005) the gauging stopped, resuming in 2004.

Geography and climate

Mongalla lies about by road northeast of

on the road to Bor in the north, but nearer as the crow flies. Mongalla is situated on the east bank of the White Nile in Central Equatoria state at an altitude of . Rainfall is relatively low between November and February, then increasing with two peaks in June and August. Annual precipitation is about . Winds are northerly in the dry season and southerly in the rainy season. Based on observations taken between April 1903 and December 1905, the mean temperature was , with mean maximum and mean minimum . Mean relative humidity was 74%. The river flowing past Mongalla combines seasonal torrential runoff in the rainy season with the more constant discharge from Lake Victoria, influenced by evaporation and by the damping and storage effects of Lake Albert,

Lake Edward Lake Edward (locally Rwitanzigye or Rweru) is one of the smaller African Great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, ...

and Lake Kyoga. The Sudd, a vast area of swampland, stretches downriver from Mongalla to near the point where the

Sobat River The Sobat River is a river of the Greater Upper Nile region in northeastern South Sudan, Africa. It is the most southerly of the great eastern tributaries of the White Nile, before the confluence with the Blue Nile. Geography The Sobat River i ...

joins the White Nile just upstream from

Malakal Malakal is a city in South Sudan. It is the capital of Upper Nile State, South Sudan, along the White Nile River. It also serves as the headquarter of Malakal county and it used to be the headquarter of Upper Nile Region from 1970s to late 1990s. ...

. Due to evaporation, only half the water that enters the Sudd at Mongalla emerges from the northern end of the swamps. The much smaller

Badigeru Swamp The Badigeru swamp (or Bedigeru, Badingilu) swamp lies in South Sudan, in the Central Equatoria and Eastern Equatoria states between Terekeka and Lafon. Badigeru is a valley swamp with papyrus along the river and typical grasses for the region ...

lies about to the east, separated from Mongalla by a region of open grassland. The belt along the Nile about 10 km wide and 146 km long from Mongalla to Bor is inhabited by the Mundari and

peoples.

Economic development

Fishing in Sudd wetland - by CPWF Basin Focal Project

The district commissioners initiated the development of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

at Mongalla in the 1920s and 1930s, but the price paid for Mongalla cotton fell from 50 piastres per kantar in 1929–30 to 18 piastres in 1931 and the industry failed to develop as planned.The "Southern Scales", which defined the rates of pay for officials and workers in the southern provinces of Sudan, were extremely low, making it impossible for the administrators to undertake any development such as a school, hospital or economic projects. Use of money was restricted, and even in 1945 taxes were still being paid in kind. In 1937 J.C. Myers was commissioned to undertake a botanical survey of Mongalla province, later extended to all of Equatoria. In contrast to the pessimistic view of the south taken by the Khartoum administration, he was enthusiastic about the wealth and diversity of plants. He noted that the people had adapted to cultivating non-native plants such as

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...

and groundnuts. He also noted that the government was restricting commercial development of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

, which grew wild, and thus preventing economic development. In 1938 Governor Symes made a tour of Equatoria and left with "contempt intensified". He consistently rejected schemes for development. An experimental station was established to grow sugar at Mongalla in the 1950s, and there were plans to establish commercial operations. However, after independence in 1956 the Khartoum government shifted the sugar project to the north, where it is grown under much less favorable conditions with heavy irrigation. After the

ended in 1972, there were plans to revive sugar production at Mongalla, and although Mongalla Sugar Processing Factory operated on a low-scale in the 1970s, it ceased production when civil war broke out again in 1983.A clothing mill also operated in the 1970s but was deactivated due to the unrest in the early 1980s. A paper mill was also planned at Mongalla, to be fed by

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

species planted in a 70,000 feddan area.Equipment was supplied from Denmark between 1975 and 1976 for use in an agro-industrial complex at Mongalla. This would include a power station and pump station to support an abattoir, poultry project, fish-receiving plant and wood-working factory. The equipment arrived but was not installed, and eventually rusted away. A project funded by Khartoum also established six textile-manufacturing units in Sudan, one at Mongalla, and the other five factories located in the north at Ed Duiem,

Kadugli Kaduqli or Kadugli ( ar, كادوقلي ' Sudanese pronunciation: ) is the capital city of South Kordofan State, Sudan. It is located south of El-Obeid, at the northern edge of the White Nile plain in the Nuba Mountains. It contains H ...

, Kosti,

Nyala The lowland nyala or simply nyala (''Tragelaphus angasii'') is a spiral-horned antelope native to southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus ''Tragelaphus'', previously placed in genus ''Nyala''. It was first described i ...

, and

Shendi Shendi or Shandi ( ar, شندي) is a small city in northern Sudan, situated on the southeastern bank of the Nile River 150 km northeast of Khartoum. Shandi is also about 45 km southwest of the ancient city of Meroë. Located in the ...

. An agreement was made with a Belgian firm, SOBERI, to supply the weaving factory of 256 looms and at one point it was estimated to produce around 9 million meters of grey fabric per annum, but it failed to get past the trial phase due to lack of raw materials, capital, and transportation facilities.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Populated places in Jubek State Populated places on the Nile