The governor of South Sudan’s Boma State on Wednesday said he rescued 3 children who had been abducted from Eastern Equatoria region, while he returned about 40 cattle that had been raided from Jonglei State.
Governor David Yau Yau while addressing the handover ceremony of the cattle to Jonglei authorities at Anyidi County said the rescue mission was not an easy one.
“I spent the whole of November in Likuangole to recover the stolen cows and children. And we managed to recover three children we believed to have been abducted from Lafon. To get these children was not an easy work, this led to the loss of the lives of my three bodyguards,” he said.
He added, “those cows belong to communities of Jonglei State especially southern part that was raided 12 months ago. We are handing them over to Philip Aguer so that he finds out the rightful owners of the cows.”
Governor Yau Yau pointed out that the return of the animals to Jonglei signals their commitment to ending cattle raids and child abduction in greater Jonglei, stressing that his administration is working hard to recover cattle and children abducted from the neighboring communities.
The state official urged his counterparts from the neighboring states to join him in the fight against crimes in greater Jonglei by disarming the populations.
Meanwhile, Philip Aguer, the governor of Jonglei State welcomed the return of the animals, saying it is a sign of peace among the two communities. He further revealed that all the state governors of greater Jonglei agreed to carry out disarmament in their recent in the coming months.