Wau is a city in northwestern South Sudan, on the western bank of the Jur River, that serves as capital for Western Bahr el Ghazal. It lies approximately northwest of the capital Juba. A culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse urban center and trading hub, Wau is also the former headquarters of Western Bahr el Ghazal.
History
Wau was initially established by the French as Fort Desaix and later was established as a zariba by slave-traders in the 19th century. During the time of condominium rule, the city became an administrative center. Burr and Collins in 1994 described Wau: as follows: No one has ever been "at home" in Wau. It is surrounded by a host of disorganized and diverse peoples... It was and remains a town belonging to no single ethnic group But a civil Dinka chief, deriving its importance only from its position as a commercial and administrative center... Located in the midst of the vast Nilotic plain hundreds of miles from nowhere, it was miserable under the best of circumstances... And the research reveal that the first people in the were a people tall with smooth dark skin today the Dinka that have inhabited the area back in the early 17s to 18s. During the Second Sudanese Civil War, it was a garrison town of the Khartoum-basedSudanese Armed Forces, and was the scene of extensive fighting in the spring of 1998. Battles erupted again in the town in the spring of 1980s, killing several hundred people. And this forced the Dinka wau to seek refugee since the other tribes which they shared the land joined with khartoumn armed forces and only targeted the Dinka which forced them to seek safety in the eastern side of wau. The Dinka were said to have migrated to the state today known as Warrap state. In 2010 the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment proposed to reshape the city as a giraffe.
Following the outbreak of the South Sudanese Civil War, the town has experienced numerous clashes, massacres, and much destruction at the hands of anti-government as well as government forces. In April 2014, Nuer soldiers belonging to the local SPLA garrison mutinied after hearing of a massacre at Mapel. They clashes with SPLA loyalists, and then fled into the Bush, joining a long march of other deserters to Sudan. About 700 Nuer civilians subsequently sought protection at Wau's UNMISS base; most of them were family members of the deserted soldiers, while others were students. In 2016, Wau experienced heavy clashes that displaced much of its Fertit population and led to widespread destruction. In April 2017, Dinka soldiers of the SPLA and Mathiang Anyoor militiamen carried out a massacre of non-Dinka civilians in the town, killing up to 50 people, and displacing thousands.
Population
The population of Wau is ethnically diverse. Most of the inhabitants are Dinka and Fertit, as the town lies on the tribal boundary between these two peoples. Furthermore, minorities belonging to the Luo, Jur Modo/Jur Beli, Balanda Boor/Balanda Bviri, and Nuer peoples can be found in Wau. Due to its diversity, Wau has repeatedly suffered from ethnic violence.
Demographics
In 2008, Wau was the third-largest city in South Sudan, by population, behind national capital Juba and Malakal, in Upper Nile State. At that time, the estimated population of the city of Wau was about 128,100. In 2011, the city's population was estimated at about 151,320.
Wau is a vibrant economic center by the standards of the newly established Republic of South Sudan, and serves as hub for trade between Darfur, Bahr al Ghazal, and Equatoria. The major contributors to the local economy include:
Wau has a tropical savanna climate. The city has two seasons: a dry season from November to March, and a rainy season the rest of the year, as depicted in the referenced box below:
