At least seven minors below ten years of age have been abducted in the Lowoi South area in Eastern Equatoria State’s Torit County in less than a fortnight.
The abducted juveniles include four males and three females while over 35 head of cattle were also raided but later recovered by local youth.
Local authorities however accused Murle youth from Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) for the continuous abduction of children and cattle raids and urged the government to intervene.
Jokomina Celesio Filbino, the women leader in Lowoi, told Radio Tamazuj that the latest incident happened on Saturday afternoon after another incident on 24 June in which five other children were abducted.
“On 24 June, they abducted five children, three boys and two girls from Kechak, and on Saturday they also abducted two children, one boy and one girl, from a place called Panykwar. One is aged seven and the other is five years old. The abductors are the Murle because their belongings were even found and they previously raided 35 cattle which were returned on the same day from the side of Lotok,” she said. “These incidents have shocked us and people are now living in fear because the youth in the area have no weapons to offer protection. We need the government to quickly intervene.”
For his part, Jimmy Kilang, an elder of the Lowoi Community, confirmed the recent abduction and said the local youth are still following the tracks of the suspected Murle abductors.
“Last week, five children were abducted from Lowoi and today (Saturday), two children were also abducted,” he stated. “These are Murle because they were identified in the bush after they raided cattle and the youth went after them to recover the animals. They came back and abducted three children.”
Meanwhile, Oleyo Akuar Nyalus, the Minister of Information and Communication in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), said they had no information about Murle youth abducting children in Eastern Equatoria State.
“Regarding the incident of yesterday (Saturday) in Eastern Equatoria, we have no information of Murle youth who went to conduct abductions,” he said. “We shall investigate and send forces because the area is vast and these cattle keepers travel long distances and will come after days. When they come, the chiefs will be sent to the grassroots to investigate any incidents of child abductions.”
Minister Akuar added: “It is true that the practice of child abduction is alarming and can only be addressed through dialogue between neighboring states so that some laws are formulated so that if anyone commits such atrocities, they face justice.”