Pibor authorities receive 3 abductees

Three abductees were on Monday handed over to the authorities in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) by their Jonglei State counterparts.
The former abductees, a child and two women, were taken by armed youth from Jonglei’s Duk County during the recent inter-communal clashes in parts of GPAA’s Gumuruk County.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Julia James, the GPAA education, gender, child, and social welfare minister, said: “On Monday, a child of about two months of age and two young women were handed over to us at the GPAA Secretariat in Pibor town by the authorities of Jonglei State. These freed abductees were taken during the fighting in the outskirts of Pibor some months ago.”
The GPAA minister applauded the handover and said that arrangements are ongoing to reunite them with their families.
“As Pibor authorities, we are thankful to our Jonglei counterparts for this handover. From our side, we are also working for the realization of peace with our neighbors in Jonglei. We are a peace coalition government and we are committed to peace, “she said.
For his part, Simon Manyok Deng, the Jonglei State human rights advisor, condemned abductions as a crime against humanity and said that efforts are underway to ensure the freedom of all the remaining abductees.
“Yesterday three abductees recovered from Duk were handed over to Pibor. As a government, we are committed to the Pieri peace initiative, and that has been confirmed by this handover. Those of us in Bor and our counterparts in Pibor have the political will to ensure the recovery of all abductees,” he said.
An activist in Jonglei, Bol Deng Bol, welcomed the handover and called on both governments to continue with the recovery of abductees, describing it as a peace gesture.