At least eight children and two women have been rescued from their abductors in parts of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) as part of a recovery mission in the region.  

According to government officials there, the mission is to have all the abducted women and children in parts of Greater Pibor rescued from their abductors. 

Speaking to  Radio Tamazuj Monday, Lokali Amae, a lawmaker at the GPAA legislative council, and a member of the recovery committee, said the 10 abductees were recovered since Saturday. 

He urged the authorities in Jonglei to also recover those abducted from their side, reiterating that they are committed to peace. 

“Apart from two women and a child from Pochalla. We have seven more children from Jonglei under our custody. So far, those recovered have reached 10. As we speak, we extended our recovery mission to areas like Gumuruk. So, we expect, more will be rescued. My message to our counterparts in Jonglei, let us work together to restore peace to our region,” he stated.

For his part, Nyabok Ngali, the GPAA Secretary-General, said arrangements are ongoing so that the abductees are handed over to their respective families.   

“Those two young women and the 6-year-old child were recovered from the areas in parts of Likuangole yesterday. The women are in their early twenties. All the recovered are from Pochalla, Anyuak. One was abducted as a woman, and the other was abducted as a girl but she became a woman in the Murle area,” he said. 

The government official stressed that the recovery mission is part of the implementation process of the recently concluded peace initiatives for rival communities in greater Jonglei. 

Bol Deng Bol, a civil society activist in Jonglei welcomed the move, but that little need to be celebrated. 

“The recovery of these people is good news. But if I can recall, history tells us such initiatives happened in the past. So, for peace in greater Jonglei to hold, let us implement all the resolutions especially the one to do with buffer zones and security forces,” he cautioned.

Cattle raids and child abductions are common among the communities in greater Jonglei.  In January, the rival communities agreed to end violence and recommitted to peace during a peace conference held in Juba.