| Nuer White Army | |
|---|---|
| Leaders | Bordoang Leah |
| Dates of operation | 1991–present |
| Headquarters | Yuai, Uror County, South Sudan |
| Active regions | South Sudan |
| Ideology | Ethnic nationalism Environmentalism Indigenism |
| Size | 25,000[1][2] |
| Allies |  Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition |
| Opponents | Government of South Sudan |
| Battles and wars | Second Sudanese Civil War South Sudanese Civil War |
| Flag |  |
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.[1] According to the Small Arms Survey, it arose from the 1991 schism within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) for the dual purpose of defending Nuer cattle herds from neighbouring groups and fighting in the Second Sudanese Civil War between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government.[3]
While sometimes reported that the White Army was so named due to the Nuer practice of smearing one's skin with a light-coloured ash as a protection against biting insects, other sources contend the name was merely intended to draw a distinction between the Nuer militia and the Sudan Armed Forces,[3] with the irregular "white" forces opposing the regular "black" forces, so called because white has a positive connotation and black a negative one.[4]
- ^ a b "South Sudan: 'White Army' militia marches to fight". USA Today. 28 December 2013.
- ^ "South Sudan forces battle White Army". The Daily Star. LB. 29 December 2013.
- ^ a b Young, John (June 2007). "The White Army: An Introduction and Overview" (PDF). Small Arms Survey. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
- ^ Young, John (July 2016). "Popular Struggles and Elite Co-optation: The Nuer White Army in South Sudan's Civil War" (PDF). p. 13.