Karo people (East Africa)

Karo is a group of Nilotic tribes that straddles the Nile in the Republic of South Sudan and is predominately found in Central Equatoria State, and as far South as Uganda and South-West as Democratic Republic of the Congo. Karo comprises Nyangwara, Bari, Pojulu, Kuku (or BaKuku in Uganda), Mundari and Kakwa. They are collectively known as Bari, as the Bari were the first Karo people to make contact with British colonial rule in Sudan. The name was established by C. G. Seligman, and today the languages are still called Bari languages.

The term Bari is not considered representative in Sudan, and Luka Monoja, a South Sudanese politician, has advocated Karo as a replacement term. The Karo peoples share a common culture in addition to language, which has been called Kutuk ('mother tongue').

Reference

• Seligman, C. G., and Seligman, B. Z., ‘Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan.’ George Routledge & Sons Ltd., London, 1932.
• Collins, Robert O., ‘Land beyond the Rivers, the Southern Sudan, 1898–1918.’ Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1971.
• Regib Yunis, ‘Notes on the Kuku and other minor tribes inhabiting Kajo-Keji District, Mongalla province.’ SNR VII (1) 1936 pp 1– 41.