Oil producing communities in South Sudan are grappling with negative impacts of oil pollution. The oil producing states have been reporting oil spills and accusing the oil producing companies of poor oil waste management.

Evident at the Dar Petroleum Operating Company’s production site located a few miles from Paloch town in Upper Nile State, waste from oil production has produced what looks like a lake. Trees have withered in this area.

Communities have for long raised an alarm about far-reaching impacts of oil production in Paloch, Ruweng and Tharjaath and Bentiu areas. Reports by communities on death of livestock and birth of children with deformities have become a main stay – but there seems little action from duty bearers.

Why the Birth Defects?

This journalist had a conversation with Dinar Nyok, a mother of three who says she faced harsh health complications – attributable to pollution when she got pregnant in Paloch, Melut County in Upper Nile State.

Nyok says that she had not been feeling well since her most recent conceiving. During pregnancy, she kept falling unusually sick, with the worst episode occurring in the eighth month of the pregnancy when she was unable to walk because all her limbs felt numb.

“When I visited the hospital, I was told it was infection. I was put on treatment, but this never worked, and I stayed bed ridden until I gave birth,” she explains.

The baby- according to Nyok was at first unable suckle. The child later started to suckle, but the worst was just unfolding. “When she started suckling, she could only vomit feces,” she narrates adding that upon rushing to the hospital in New Paloch, scans revealed that the baby’s intestines were inverted. The child passed away a few days later – before an operation.

Nyok says this was the first of its kind in her family, adding that she does not even subscribe to the school of thought that this could have been witchcraft. She however believes this could have a connection to oil waste pollution.

“Oil chemicals are a problem here. It is common in our area for children to be born deformed,” Nyok observes – adding that doctors say the problem is due to petroleum production. “They say a pregnant woman should not stay close to oil production area because this causes birth defects.”

Nyok explains that a year ago, her maternal cousin also gave birth to a deformed baby, whose intestines were outwardly formed and died on the way to South Sudan capital Juba for an operation.

37-year-old Nyanweng Thon, a mother of seven and Nyok’s stepmother, says her stepdaughter has not been herself since she gave birth to the deformed baby. She says her limbs have been pale and often complains of backache.

Scientists Weigh-in

Khor Chop Leek, a researcher wrote a report about the impacts of oil production in Paloch, Ruweng and Tharjath (Unity State).

Khor says oil production has left toxic heavy metals such as mercury, manganese, lead and cadmium that have poisoned water and ecosystem.

“The country’s surface is pocked with hundreds of unsecured pits. They contain a ‘witches brew’ of toxic chemicals and of such heavy metals as mercury, manganese, arsenic, lead and cadmium. These poisons then seep from the pits into the ambient water, and from there into the entire ecosystem – where they join the oil spilling and leaking from ruptured pipelines and defective and derelict facilities in contaminating it,” reads part of Khor’s report.

“The effects of exposure to and ingestion of these poisons upon human health are well documented – cancer, loss of cognitive functions, circulatory and respiratory impairments, stillbirths and many others. Hardest hit by this devastation of health have been the most vulnerable: fetuses and infants,” he adds.

According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it updated the children’s Blood Lead reference value (BLRV) from 5.0 μg/dL to 3.5 μg/dL. BLRV is used to take note of children whose blood lead level is higher than that in most children. The children between of 3.5–5 μg/dL need urgent attention.

“The value is based on the 97.5th percentile of the blood lead distribution in U.S. children ages 1–5 years,” CBC indicates.

“The average lead test result for young children is about 1.4 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL),” says New York State Department of Health.

Although other industrial factors might also contribute to high Blood Lead Levels, Science Direct states that high risk are associated with areas close to oil production.

Below is the data on Blood Lead Levels with above average (>5 and >10 micrograms per deciliter) in children in South Sudan as of 2020 by UNICEF under the article, “The Toxic Truth.”

 Data visualization link: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/kHykJ/1/

 Data visualization link: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/xCtHY/1/

The Bigger Picture

Yai Monywach is a leader in Sahara Camp in Melut County, Upper Nile State. This area is located about one hour drive from the oil production site. Monywach notes that several cases have been happening in the camp they inhabit, as well as in the surrounding areas.

“Children are affected especially and childbirth has become a problem. All this is due to oil pollution,” he explains.

The blame emanates from the fact that before the start of oil production, cases of birth defects never occurred.

For years, people living near oil production sites have declined government’s offer to relocate to alternative areas due to the attachments they have to their ancestral land as well as due to fears that once they relocate, their land will be grabbed.

Malou Miyom who formerly worked at Paloch oilfields says most people embrace the danger to protect land, and also being close helps them, bring food on the table. He says the negative impacts of oil pollution are dangerous to the local population.

Some oilfields are located within Paloch town where people are living while the oil production place where oil production waste (now fenced) has formed lakes is between 5-10 minutes’ drive.

Chol Monyjok, Director for Finance and Administration at Upper Nile State’s Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Forestry says the government of South Sudan gave an alternative land for the people to leave the oil-production area so that they could be safe from oil production-pollution.

“The pollution is affecting the surrounding communities in Melut, Paloch and other surrounding areas. And that is why the government gave the option to set up a city called New Paloch to relocate all the people there. But the process of relocation usually takes time,” he explains.

Chol blames the oil producing companies of not prioritizing environmental safety as well as safety of the population. He says the issue of people refusing to leave Paloch town can be treated like rumours because the government can even take the people forcefully.

Monyjok Giih, Melut County Director of Environment and Forestry says aside from birth defects, some people get itchy eyes and sometimes become blind.

He also says the impacts have also reached the level where land is not productive, rain frequencies affected as well as air pollution.

According to Giih, petroleum waste should be channeled underground after it is treated and the gas burned before it reaches the atmosphere. She says every family should also be tasked to plant at least a tree after the people have resettled either in Melut or New Paloch.

“It’s good for people to be taken to New Paloich and trees planted in oilfields. Every family should be obliged to plant a tree in their compound. The trees can control poisonous emissions from oil production.”

Risks in other oil-producing states

Bol Dau, a resident of Ruweng Administrative Area says his brother ’s wife gave birth to a baby with intestines outward. He says the baby was referred to Nairobi but passed on before that.

He says the doctor in Nairobi performed medical test and the mother’s blood sample showed that the infection had been in her blood system for four to five years. He says the doctor’s report indicated that she got the infection from water she had been drinking.

He says the doctor advised that the woman should not live in Ruweng or any oil producing area but live in Nairobi where in case she conceives again, her pregnancy can be monitored. However, the oil company in Ruweng failed to provide the assistance they promised for the woman to be resettled to Nairobi.

Bol says the government should pay attention to the generations being lost to oil pollution instead of focusing on the money that comes from crude-oil sales.

“By the time we realize that our country has wasted a lot of generations, it will be too late. You find a lot of young girls having miscarriages. Some are having still birth; others are not giving birth; there are a lot of infectious diseases, and all these things, are associated with the environment,” he adds.

He now wants the government to set up a state-of-the-art hospital in the area to extend antenatal care services and detect and handle any pregnancy related complication at an early stage.

Bol says that he knows of twelve cases of children born with deformities in Ruweng recently – with seven cases this year alone. This is unacceptable to him, and he wants results of a recent environmental audit released.

“No result of environmental audit up to today. It has been three years now since the samples were collected for studies and analysis but no feedback from the lab,” he explains.

Several other reports have in the past detailed numbers of children born with defects in oil producing states, but health ministry has refused to disclose the actual numbers of the children born with deformities.

“A study by a local advocacy group (which has asked to remain anonymous) found that deformed infants comprised 19% to 54% of all births in a three-year period (2015-2017). The group found that one community (Ruweng in Pariang) had up to 118 cases of premature deliveries during the period. Such deliveries can be triggered by exposure to toxins,” Khor Chol Leek said in his report

In 2021, Sudd Institute’s Nhial Tiitmamer and Kwai Malak Kwai Kut reported 13 cases of deformed children in Paloch in Melut County, Upper Nile State.

“We discovered 13 cases of birth defects, including spinal bifida, facial and head deformities, sexual organ deformities, limb deformities, and growth retardations,” the report partly read.

According to the report, livestock carry pollutants to the people after grazing in polluted environment. It adds that community members use chemical containers leading to issues such as birth defects, infertility, stillbirth and miscarriages.

Where is the Government?

According to a report by the UN commission on human rights in South Sudan, the government of South Sudan has been picking little interest in unveiling a comprehensive report of the negative impacts of oil production on the population.

The report notes that the security organs are greatly linked to the oil production sites, and these areas are protected by soldiers. This journalist early 2024 was detained and harassed by security personnel as he interviewed people of Paloch and Melut County about the challenges they are facing.

“The egregious plunder, looting, militarization, and securitization of critical resources has meant that the government of South Sudan has not fulfilled its human rights obligations to its citizens, and the concomitant failure to secure socio-economic development has meant that South Sudanese women, men, and children continue to be exposed to extreme vulnerability, poverty, and suffering,” the commission noted.

Oil revenue has been a source of self-enrichment. For instance, the people of Maban County held protests in October calling for the removal of their commissioner Peter Alberto whom they accused of eating three percent oil revenue with his friends.

He was also accused of imposing hefty fines on traders leading to high costs of living and selling government vehicles given to the community. As such, people believe that South Sudan elites do not care about the suffering of the people because they are benefiting from the oil.

The Sudd Institute recommends that the people should be relocated away from the area and oilfields fenced, adding that environmental assessment should be done and Environmental Protection and Management Bill passed into a law to protect people’s welfare.

As far as oil revenue is concerned, the Institute roots for effective utilization of the revenue allocated to oil producing states to improve the living standards of the people.