10 children abducted in Jonglei State

At least 10 children were abducted in Jonglei State last Sunday, said the state authorities.

The state minister of information, John Manyuon, said the children were kidnapped in different raids and accused armed youth from the neighbouring Greater Pibor Administrative Area [GPAA] of being behind the incident.

“The challenge is that the children that are being returned from GPAA are those that were abducted on a monthly and yearly basis but the children we returned are those that were abducted in 2020 when the youth from Lou Nuer, Gawuar and Greater Bor mobilised and attacked areas in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area,” Manyuon said.

“I am sure we have returned about 90 per cent of the children who were abducted in those areas of clashes, but from the side of Greater Pibor, for example, we received 11 children last Sunday, but they have abducted more than 10 children since then.”

The minister said the abductions of the three children happened in Lakien.

Also, one child was abducted in another attack where a person was killed, and two other children went missing between Akobo East and Akobo West.

However, Greater Pibor Deputy Information Minister, Abraham Keleng, said he knew nothing about the youth attack in Jonglei.

The incident happened on the same day that the Greater Pibor Chief Administrator handed over 11 abducted children to Jonglei authorities.

“We don’t have any communication from the Jonglei government about the new attacks, but we have been informed that some youth were mobilising an attack on the GPAA.”

“However, we brought this information to the attention of the government of Jonglei State when they visited Pibor recently,” he said.

He said the Pibor government was committed to ending child abduction by recovering and reuniting children to their parents.

Both Greater Pibor and Jonglei State have always traded accusations and blamed youth from either side for perpetrating violence and disturbing the peace in the area.