The authorities in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) at the weekend recovered three children who were abducted from Eastern Equatoria State’s Kapoeta East County in April.
The recovered children include two boys and one girl all under 13 years of age.
This comes after GPAA authorities launched an operation to hunt for the abducted children to reunite them with their families. None of the abductors has been arrested as they remain alert and in hiding.
According to GPAA Information Minister Oleyo Akuar Nyalus, the initiative to recover the abductees is aimed at building trust and peaceful coexistence between GPAA and neighboring communities in Eastern Equatoria State.
He said the three recovered children are under care in Pibor and awaiting reunification with their families in Kapoeta East.
“We are now working on gathering children belonging to Kapoeta East who were abducted in April and we were able to recover three children abducted from Kapoeta. We were able to recover these children and the hunt continues for more in Lobrok and Maruot among other parts of Greater Pibor,” he said. “If we find any Toposa child, we shall return them because we want to live in peace so that the road from Kapoeta to Pibor can be opened. We do not want to live in violence, abduction, and theft, in God’s grace.”
On her part, Jennifer Nabongorika, the Eastern Equatoria State Minister of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, said they are aware of the three recovered children and urged GPAA authorities to recover more.
She said the continuous abduction of children by the armed Murle youth is a violation and called on Pibor authorities to also arrest the abductors and respect and respect and implement the resolutions of the recent peace dialogue about ending child abductions.
“We are connected and are following together and even the governor is in the picture. They recently got three children and they are in the center in Pibor town and they are hoping to get more. When they are collecting the children, do they also arrest the perpetrators?” she asked and added: “What we do not like is the abduction of a human being and condemn the practice, the Murle should stop abducting children.”
Meanwhile, Abdala Angelo Lokeno, the commissioner of Kapoeta East County, lauded the GPAA leadership for the initiative and urged them to continue looking for the remaining abducted children.
“I appreciate them a lot. 42 children were abducted by the Murle and they have to recover them and hand them over to UNMISS,” he stated. “The abducted children have to be traced and returned to the national government which will then hand them to the state government because these children were abducted during a serious attack.”