Father cry as he reunite with his daughter who was one of abductees returned by Pibor Administrative Area - Courtesy

Authorities in Greater Pibor Administrative Area have recovered five children who were abducted during a raid on Kapoeta East of Eastern Equatoria State in late April, 2024.

The attack carried out by Murle youth on 23rd April left 32 people dead, 26 others wounded and nearly a hundred -mainly women and children abducted.

The raiders also made away with more than 1, 500 heads of cattle.

The deadly attack sparked public outraged with Eastern Equatoria state politicians condemning the incident.

Speaking to Eye Radio on Tuesday, Greater Pibor Information Minister Oleyo Akuer Nalos said the committee in charge of recovering the abductees have so far found five children.

“These five children were abducted from the side of Kapoeta East in April by Murle youths. Now the children are here in good health, and we are keeping them in the compound of the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare.

Minister Oleyo said the government is yet expecting the recovery of unspecified number of children within this month so that they are all together airlifted and reunited with their families.

“We are still waiting for another group of children to be recovered, then we will put them together and contact the government of Kapoeta in order to integrate them to their families,” said GPAA spokesperson.

Mr Oleyo added that bad roads couple with the rainy season has hampered efforts to reach out to areas where some  of the abducted children have been found.

“The committees have been going to the places where the children are found and because of the rainy season the vehicles cannot access the areas.

“So they [Committee members] are footing to these places and they are remote areas. We are still waiting for them..” he said.

In March this year, the government of Pibor handed over five abducted children to the government of Central Equatoria.

The recovered children were 4 from Central Equatoria and 1 from Eastern Equatoria.