
30/09/2025
Opinion: Red Belt Is Not a Rebel Movement but a Response to Government Failure.
In recent weeks, the Red Belt has increasingly been branded as a “rebel group,” a dangerous label that not only misrepresents the facts but also risks inflaming tensions further in Jonglei State.
To view the Red Belt through the narrow lens of rebellion is to misunderstand both their origins and their purpose. These young men are not an armed opposition force against the government but rather a community defense group that emerged in response to decades of state failure to protect its citizens and their properties, particularly in Bor.
For far too long, Jonglei State has lived under the shadow of violence cattle raids, child abductions, and deadly attacks that often originate from armed youth groups in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area. Entire communities have been terrorized, villages emptied, and families left mourning, all while the government’s promise of protection remained a distant dream. Security forces have consistently been either under-resourced or entirely absent. This absence created a vacuum, and it is in that void that the Red Belt was formed.
The Red Belt is not motivated by a desire to overthrow the government, nor does it operate under a political manifesto like classical rebel groups. Rather, it arose out of a simple and urgent need: to protect the unprotected. Young men, tired of seeing their families slaughtered and their cattle stolen, organized themselves to defend their communities. To criminalize this response is to criminalize survival itself.
Critics who insist on labeling the Red Belt as rebels overlook the deeper structural issues that birthed them. The reality is that when a government repeatedly fails to secure its people, it should come as no surprise that ordinary citizens turn to self-defense. History teaches us that whenever the state neglects its duty to protect, parallel forces of protection inevitably arise whether they are local vigilantes, community defense groups, or other forms of grassroots security. Jonglei is no exception.
That said, it is important to acknowledge that any armed group whether state-sanctioned or not carries risks. There are legitimate concerns that community defense groups can sometimes cross the line, escalate conflicts, or even become politicized. But this risk cannot erase the fact that their very existence is a direct symptom of state failure.
The proper response is not to brand them as rebels, but to engage them constructively. Dialogue, integration into community policing, and support for local peace initiatives are far more sustainable solutions than condemnation or blanket militarization.
The danger of mislabeling the Red Belt as rebels goes beyond semantics. Such rhetoric legitimizes heavy-handed crackdowns, which could worsen grievances, fuel resentment, and push frustrated youth further from the government.
Once stigmatized as rebels, these young men are denied the chance to be seen as stakeholders in peace and development. That would be a grave mistake for a state already reeling under fragile trust between citizens and institutions.
What Jonglei needs is not another cycle of accusations and counteraccusations but a sincere recognition that insecurity has been a long-standing reality that the state has not adequately addressed. The Red Belt is a byproduct of this neglect, and any serious effort to restore stability must begin with this honest acknowledgment. Instead of dismissing or demonizing them, the government should explore ways to transform this group into a positive force through structured community defense programs, livelihood opportunities, and peace dialogues with neighboring communities.
The government of South Sudan has a constitutional responsibility to protect every citizen, regardless of where they live. For the people of Bor and greater Jonglei, this responsibility has not been fulfilled for decades. It is in this painful absence that the Red Belt stepped in not as rebels, but as defenders of their own survival.
To call them rebels is to shift blame from where it truly belongs: the government’s persistent failure to safeguard its citizens. It is time to change the narrative. The Red Belt should be understood not as a threat to the state but as a mirror reflecting its shortcomings. Only when the state takes up its rightful duty of protection will groups like the Red Belt cease to exist. Until then, labeling them rebels is not only unjust but dangerously misleading.
With what happened in Bor Town recently, we should not term it as rebellion but misunderstanding between them and the government which should be address amicably. Let’s put aside the conclusion but rather look into the root cause of the conflict.
BY Concern Bor Citizens.