Why Pibor authorities are cautious on arresting child abductors

The Greater Pibor Administrative Area government reached a milestone in the fight against child abduction on Sunday when it announced the recovery of 10 children taken from neighboring Kapoeta East County, but there is one critical issue; no abductor is being arrested.

In April 2024, armed youth from Pibor attacked villages in Kapoeta East, where dozens of people were killed, women and children were abducted, and hundreds of cattle stolen” according to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

The cross-border attack was condemned by ESS Governor Louis Lobong, who appealed to his Pibor counterparts to recover the children and hold perpetrators accountable.

However, Pibor Information Minister Akuer said the administrative government has spared abductors from accountability, for now, because such a move will jeopardize the rescue of other children still in the hands of abductors.

He underscored that some children abducted from Kapoeta still remain at large, prompting the authorities to use peaceful means of rescuing and reuniting them with their families.

“We have a fear that when the entire population heard this, they will maybe be able to run away to some places hiding. We are using a strategy that will attract them to bring the children back in the hand of the government,” he said in an interview with Eye Radio on Monday.

Last month, Minister Akuer said the unresolved conflict has had repercussions, having resulted in the closure of a vital trade route between the two areas – leaving Pibor without access to commercial supplies.

The remote region has already been unable to access Bor and Juba by road, except through costly air transport, and the road to Kapoeta was the last remaining supply route.

The situation, coupled with bouts of dry spell, has triggered dire hunger in the areas of Likwangole, Jebel Boma, Pochalla – with 12 people starving to death in two weeks in Likwangole alone last month.

Minister Akuer further defended that if the government started the recovery operation with arrests, it would not have been able to recover the children.

“If we started the other way round, they may know the government is pursuing them to be held accountable so, lets escape from the government.”

“We are using a strategy that is peaceful way in order to bring these children from the abductors and then we will look into how to get into those who have committed the crimes.”

Child abductions and trafficking are not new in the former Greater Jonglei region, and abductors are rarely arrested and held accountable.

In fact in January 2023, the government of Jonglei State said it had to negotiate the freedom of more than 60 abductees held captive by raiders, in what it said was lack of capacity to arrest heavily armed youth.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said in a report that year it was troubled by increasing cases of abduction and human trafficking between Jonglei State and Pibor Administrative Area.

The Commission’s chairperson, Yasmin Sooka, told a press conference that they documented an increase in cases of abduction and shocking tales of trafficking involving armed groups and members of the armed force.

Ms. Sooka revealed having documented testimonies of women abducted, and whose releases have been accompanied by the payment of ransom to abductors following the intervention of authorities.

She further denounced the alleged payment of ransom to the perpetrators by authorities in order to rescue abducted women and children, terming it a corruption and criminal collusion, while the abduction amounts to a serious international crime.