Jonglei couple demand return of two abducted children
May 30, 2015 (BOR) – The experience of a young family losing two of their children to unknown abductors can not only be sad and devastating, but equally hearth-wrecking.
Thon Malual Garang, 33, and his wife Ayen Madit are in tears after their four and half year old girl and a boy less than three years were abducted by unknown people from their home in Block Nine zone.
“My children are two, the girl is the elder one and her follower is a boy. My home was attacked in the evening when I was still at work. I was not at home [but] if I were home, I would have given my life to save them”, Garang Sudan Tribune in the capital, Bor on Saturday.
“What I know from my wife and the rest of the eyewitnesses is that the abductors where Murle, their place in Pibor is not known, but I guess they are from western Pibor areas like Manybol, Koth-char, or Gumuruk,” he added.
Malual called on both Pibor administration and the Jonglei state government to coordinate, trace and bring back all the children abducted by Murle tribesmen, including his children, saying this would be the starting point for peace between these two tribes.
During the attack, Malual, an officer at the state fire brigade, said his mother and his youngest son were shot, but the duo were now getting better.
“There is nothing more frustrating than losing your child to abductors. I suffered for years since I was married to raise them, only to see them being taken at a gunpoint,” a tearful Ayen narrated.
Early this month, the GPAA under David Yauyau’s leadership, returned four abducted children who were reunited with their parents. At the event, Yauyau pledged to end all criminal activities such as raiding and abduction with support from Jonglei authorities.
The GPAA was created following the 9 May, 2014 peace agreement the Yauyau-led South Sudan Democratic Forces-Cobra faction signed with South Sudan government.
(ST)