At least nine abducted children have been handed back to their biological families after spending months with the abductors. Among them is a 9-year-old girl, Regina Moyo, who was abducted from Nyeli area, 40 miles along Juba-Nimule road. Longino Michael Cook, the chairman of Olu’ba community, revealed that Regina Moyo was handed back to Suzan Ajou Modi— her biological mother— after 6 months after her abduction.
“Yesterday at 10 am we had a ceremony of Regina Moyo with her mother after 6 months of being abducted by Murle [fighters] and been taken to Pibor.
“I have seen a number of children being handed to the biological families, including six from Eastern Equatoria State, and about three of from Juba including one from my area Olu’ba community,” he revealed.
Mr. Cook narrates that Regina was abducted on January 2, 2021, together with two other girls. But up to now, they have only received one girl; there is another one yet to be found. “Yes as community we are happy especially for Suzan, the mother of Regina, and entire family. “As we speak now, we have over 200 children who have been taken by the Murle people and over 30 people who have been killed; and about 15 of them were wounded during the process of abduction. All of them from the Olu’ba community,” Mr. Cook repeated.
He said it was through effort of former Pibor Chief Administrator Gen. Joshua Konyi that they were able to rescue them. ‘Saving the children’ “After getting clear information about the abducted children, what he did was to arrest the closest family members of those who abducted the children and threatened to take them to Juba and that was how those girls was found,” he added.
Mr. Cook called on the Pibor authorities to cooperate and bring back those children who are still with them to their rightful families. He said, “let our government take this issue seriously. They need to intervene and pay much attention to these problems [brought about by the] presence of cattle in the area.
“To be honest our communities are suffering because since 2008 up to date, over 300 children were kidnaped and more than 100 women killed while trying to rescue their children.’’
Earlier this year, a community from Kubi Village along Juba- Nimule road reported the abduction of three children in which a mother was wounded when she was struggling to rescue her children. In a separate incident in April 2021, about 50 women and children who were abducted last year during vicious inter-communal fighting in Jonglei State were reunited with their families. The exchange of abducted women and children came following a community-led goodwill agreement between the Lou Nuer, Murle and Dinka Bor ethnic communities.