The Arrow Boys are a militia in the

Western Equatoria Western Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of . Its capital is Yambio. The state was divided into counties, each headed by a County Commissioner. Western Equatoria seceded from Sudan as part of the Republic of South Sudan on ...

region 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 bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

. The militia sprung up as a self-defense unit who get their name from the bows, arrows supposedly treated with poison, and other traditional weapons they use.

Lord's Resistance Army rebellion

During the

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...

by 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 ...

(LRA) in

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 ...

, the Arrow Boys were started in Teso in the Eastern Region as a self-defense militia. As the

fled Uganda into South Sudan, the militia spread there as well in order to defend against the LRA.

South Sudanese Civil War

When Dinka cattle herders, allegedly backed by the SPLA, occupied farmland, Azande youth rose up into militias mostly with the Arrow Boys, whose leader Alfred Karaba Futiyo Onyang declared allegiance to

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 20 ...

and claimed to have occupied parts of Western Equatoria.

References

Factions of the South Sudanese Civil War {{SouthSudan-stub Rebel groups in South Sudan

Lord's Resistance Army rebellion

South Sudanese Civil War

See also

References