A woman and a boy who were abducted in separate incidents have been reunited with their families in Torit, the capital of Eastern Equatoria State.
The two were handed over to the state government by the Chief Administrator of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) in Kapoeta.
Aneta Itwari, 20, was abducted four years ago at the age of 16 by suspected Murle youth while travelling from Lafon to Juba via Mogiri. Two other children were taken with her. Separately, two-year-old Wani was abducted earlier this year in Ngulere, Lirya Payam, in Central Equatoria State.
Itwari’s mother, Rejoice Oyet, emotionally thanked authorities for her daughter’s return.
“Thanks to the Governor of Eastern Equatoria. I thank God for my daughter. My name is Rejoice Oyet from Pari. I thought I would not get this child, but the government is surely working,” she said.
John Tongun Eneriko, the father of Wani, confirmed his son’s return.
“I want to thank you for searching for the children who were abducted from the village. I thank UNMISS; I thank God and everyone who came to witness this event. God bless them all,” Tongun said.
Simon Ugwak, chairperson of the Eastern Equatoria State Pari Community, welcomed Itwari’s return and called for peace in South Sudan.
“We are supposed to be in peace, and our only enemy would have been hunger,” Ugwak said.
Eastern Equatoria State Governor Louis Lobong Lojore said the recovery followed dialogue between the state government and GPAA to improve relations.
“Last week, the government of Eastern Equatoria initiated a dialogue with GPAA. As you people know, there had been problems of raids and abduction of children. Our children were being abducted, and we were unable to recover them because we did not know where they were,” he said.
“When I initiated this dialogue, some people opposed it, but I said revenge may not help us get back our children. I think the best way is to dialogue. Truly, we brought in all the elites from the Toposa community—the political and traditional leaders, the youth, and women representatives. The conference was attended by over 200 people across the three counties of Kapoeta,” he added.