Arrow Boys

The Arrow Boys are a militia operating in the Western Equatoria region of South Sudan.

The militia sprung up as a self-defense unit who get their name from their use of bows and arrows supposedly treated with poison, and other traditional weapons.

[1] During the insurgency by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, the Arrow Boys were formed in Teso in the Eastern Region as a self-defense militia.

[2] As the Lord's Resistance Army fled Uganda into South Sudan, the militia spread there as well in order to defend against the LRA.

When Dinka cattle herders, allegedly backed by the SPLA, occupied farmland, Azande youth rose up into militias mostly with the Arrow Boys,[3] whose leader Alfred Karaba Futiyo Onyang declared allegiance to SPLM-IO[4] and claimed to have occupied parts of Western Equatoria.