Combating child abductions in Jonglei
By Joseph de Tuombuk
The prevalence of child abduction is one of the most harmful menaces that has bedevilled the relations among the communities in Jonglei and Boma states. Murle cattle rustlers have engaged in this practice for as long as the communities in formerly greater Jonglei have shared common borders. The Dinka Bor who inhabit Jonglei state have been the victim of this crime. Child abductions tend to invariably occur during cattle rustling activity. In certain cases, however, Murle gunmen have abducted children when they fail to locate cattle. The psychological effect that this menace has on the local population is very salient. It has led to mistrust and hostility towards the Murle community and this has fed insecurity in the states of Jonglei and Boma. In the spirit of National Dialogue effort spearheaded by the Transitional Government of National Unity, it is time to embark on a serious strategy towards eradicating child abductions and return communities to peaceful coexistence. This article does a small part to chart outlines of how such strategy should evolve.
It’s difficult to understand the genesis of child abduction and one needs to undertake a serious anthropological and sociological study of the Murle community to understand what motivates such practice. Murle community has always been the main suspect and driver of child abductions. The neighbouring Nuer, Anyuak, and Dinka have known all along that Murle gunmen are the drivers of child abductions. On certain occasions, these victim communities have taken the matter into their own hands and engaged in reprisal attacks against the wider Murle community for the actions of the few gunmen. Yet the practice of child abductions continues unabated.
The affected families are left to endure the suffering of not knowing the welfare of the child. The affected communities live in constant fear and this has an effect on the economic activities and a sense of security. In fact, one of the reasons why the initial SPLA recruitment of the famed divisions such as Koryom was such a success was to get weapons to defend the Dinka Bor community against the menace of cattle rustling and child abductions. Successive regimes in Khartoum armed the Murle community as a way to wage a low-cost counterinsurgency campaign against the SPLM/A. With Murle gunmen able to carry on with their predatory practice on unarmed communities in greater Jonglei and elsewhere, the practice of child abductions took hold. However, it is time to take on this menace and eliminate it forever. It would help improve security for all affected communities, including the Murle.
There needs to be a concerted strategy on how to end the practice of child abductions and this would entail greater cooperation between the state governments of Boma and Jonglei and the support from central government law enforcement agencies. It is time to launch a credible fight against child abductions because doing so would greatly improve security in the affected states and would lay the foundation for building trust among the affected communities. There are also other add-on benefits such as reduction in cattle rustling. However, this strategy would require considerable improvement in technology and intelligence gathering by law enforcement agencies. The question facing law enforcement agencies is how to approach this challenge.
Specialized Taskforce
The state authorities in Jonglei and Boma needs to form a specialised taskforce to deal specifically with child abductions and cattle rustling. This taskforce would coordinate its activities with central government law enforcement agencies. It must receive special training on how to investigate gunmen suspected of having engaged in child abductions. It must gather information that is then analysed and checked against the records of the affected child. In the western countries, such as the United States and Canada, there is a sophisticated national alert system called Amber. As soon as a child is determined to be abducted, the system issues an alert with pertinent information about the child and potential abductor. A photo of the child is included in the alert system. In a short period, the law enforcement agencies exponentially increase their resources as the wider nation call in tips and information. Ordinary people get texts on their phone about what to look out for and what to do if you come across the potential abductor. It makes it nearly impossible for the abductor to elude authorities and a wider public. A child is quickly located and returned to the safety of their family. A family is saved from the anguish of not knowing what is happening to their child. A community is saved from the menace and fear of having criminals in its midst.
But building such a sophisticated national alert system would require considerable resources and technology and knowledge infrastructure. While resource constraints are going to take time to overcome, there must be an organised effort to combat the scorch of child abductions.
The less costly strategy is the involvement of community leadership in both states. Community involvement is crucial to gathering information to find perpetrators and have them face credible deterrence. Community leaders such as chiefs and local elders need to be incentivized to understand the benefits and gains resulting from the elimination child abductions practice. They are the frontline source of information and can provide information on the whereabouts of the perpetrators. For example, community elders need to understand that by allowing child abductors and abducted children to remain in the community, there’s a potential for wider reprisals against the community. The gains to few child abductors cannot be allowed to put the welfare of the of communities at risk.
Centralised DNA Analysis Center
The central government needs to invest in a centralised DNA analysis centre that can quickly analyse the genetic information of the abducted child against that of relatives. Such a system must be guarded against illegal use and abuse to protect the wider public. However, it would help process the information collected in the field on potential victims of child abductions. Such information would be used in prosecuting cases against the perpetrators of child abductions.
In the twenty-first century, the menace of child abductions cannot be allowed to exist among the communities in the greater Jonglei areas and wider South Sudan. It is like the eighteenth-century practice of abducting people and selling them into slavery. The economic benefits accrued to a small segment of the society while the wider community suffered economic harm and insecurity. It is time to put in place a well-designed strategy to combat the vice.
*The author is a South Sudanese-American commentator and analyst. He can be reached at [email protected].