Kei Emmanuel Duku
Five children and their mother have been abducted in Pigi County, Jonglei State allegedly by armed militia from Pibor Administrative Area.
The victims, aged between 8 and 15, were taken captive at the beginning of the month and held in a makeshift shelter in a swampy area. One of the older children managed to escape.
Commissioner of Pigi County Suleiman Deng said when they were traced, the footmarks showed the abductors were heading towards Greater Pibor Administrative Areas.
He added that this is the second time the county has registered cases of child trafficking, the first took place two months however through community intervention the child and the mother were rescued from the armed criminals.
“The mother and the child were rescued from the armed Murle militia at the border between Lou and Murle, and now they have been reunited with their family, this is a new trend emerging here, it used not to be in our culture, and the family of the five, the armed men came and took the entire family, unfortunately, the eldest son managed to escape,” said Deng.
He said in the last two months the county registered 7 cases of human trafficking by armed Murle men, 2 mothers and 6 children were kidnapped from Pigi County.
However one child together with the mother was rescued, and one escaped and the rest are still held hostage by the abductors.
According to the commissioner, the armed militia, whenever they arrived, starts by raiding cattle and if they failed to get cows they resorted to abducting innocent civilians.
He appealed to the abductors to denounce cattle raiding, human trafficking, and illegal crossing of borders while armed to scare the civil population.
“I have no idea why they (armed Militia) are after children, do they have the market for human beings as leaders of this nation, we still don’t know but if it is part of their culture and tradition they should desist because kidnapping and ridding of someone’s kids, wife, and cattle is a criminal offence, if not addressed will escalate into tribal conflict and those still holding the abdicated children should be returned to their parents” stated Deng.
He stated that the lack of proper telecommunication services and the current flooding that has destroyed most road networks has hampered the County’s authority’s responses against any aggression to the civil population of Pigi County.
Efforts to contact Pibor Administrative Areas to respond on the matter were futile as all telephone contacts were futile by press time.