The authorities in Nyirol County in Jonglei State on Sunday received 11 abductees from the neighbouring Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA).
The former abductees, aged 7 to 16, were recovered in GPAA’s Likuangole County over the past weeks and were transported to Pibor town on 2 December 2022 ahead of the handover on Sunday.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Nyirol County Commissioner James Bol Makuey lauded his GPAA counterparts for the handover.
“On Sunday, we received six boys and five girls who had been abducted and taken to GPAA,” he said. “We received them here in Langkien town, and we are very happy and appreciate the government of Greater Pibor.”
The county commissioner said the former abductees are all in good health conditions and that arrangements were underway to identify their families and reunite them.
“These abductees are from Nyirol, Akobo, and Uror. They just arrived, and we are yet to identify their counties. As a community, we are happy because it is an indication that Jonglei State and GPAA authorities are working towards peace,” he said.
For his part, Abraham Kelang, the GPAA information minister, said the handover was a gesture of commitment to peace and called for better cooperation with Jonglei State to ease the identification and recovery of more abductees.
Simon Manyok Deng, a human rights affairs advisor in Jonglei State, said child abduction is inhumane and that he was happy that the children finally regained their freedom.
“As the two governments of Jonglei State and GPAA and all the citizens, we are happy that these children have been recovered and handed over,” he said. “This is a reflection of our commitment to peace. Again, it is a reflection of a sense of humanity because it means that these children can now have a dignified life and live as free humans with full rights.”
Communities of the greater Jonglei state have for long been wrangling leading to cattle raids, child abductions and killings.