SUMMARY

The Jur Beli is an ethnic group in South Sudan consisting of about 100, 000 people. The Jur Beli are sedentary agriculturalists and practice shifting cultivation in which sorghum, millet, beans, cassava are their main crops.

The Jur ‘Beli society is organised as kinships, clans and families and the Jur ‘Beli lives in homesteads and extended villages. Each homestead has a head that represent the homestead and settles disputes between different homesteads. This is followed in authority by a sub-chief who has wider powers. The chief is the most important authority in the Jur ‘Beli.

The Jur ‘Beli neighbour the three Dinka sections of Agar, Gok and Atuot as well as the Moru and Moro Kodo ethnic groups. Of these different groups the Jur Beli relationship with the Dinka has been the most problematic and the Jur Beli have been involved in conflicts with different Dinka groups.

The Jur Beli has been involved in the non-state category of the UCDP organised violence.