After 11 years with abductors, 14-year-old Madit Chuti
Riak has been reunited with his family in Bor.
Madit and his elder brother, Reech Chuti Riak, were abducted
in 2013 from Baidit in Bor County to Uror County in Jonglei state by the
suspected armed White Army.
Reech managed to return earlier this year with the help of
cattle dealers, who also assisted in locating his younger brother Madit.
The State Ministry of Gender and Community In Need Aid
(CINA) negotiated with the abductors, leading to Madit’s release and reunion
with his family on Wednesday.
Pandek Akim Manyok, a family member expressed the family’s
joy after reunion.
“We are very happy as
a family because of what happened, in 2013 it was a tragedy and now is the joy,
the mother of this boy was killed, and they were abducted with his brother his
brother returned in February this year and now he has been brought by the
government and partners,” said Akim
The state minister for Gender Child and Social Welfare, William
Kuol Chuol, pledged continual community engagement to ensure all abductees are
reunited with their families.
“This is what we are doing as the ministry and the partners
to make sure we recover the abducted children and women and hand them to their
parents or relatives…We are urging the community members to help us in trucking
the other lost persons,” Kuol stated.
Since the start of this year, more than 200 children and
women have been reunited with their families in Jonglei and Pibor.
However, child and women abductions, cattle raiding, and
revenge attacks continue to be major human rights violations in Greater Jonglei
and Pibor Administrative Area, disrupting peace in the region.
Boys are often abducted to be trained as warriors and
participate in communal conflicts, while women and girls are kept for
reproduction.
Despite government efforts to end these practices through
community dialogues and conferences, significant progress has yet to be made.
Agau Cecilia Kuir, a Social Worker with CINA, stated that
the partnering organization would continue providing psycho-social support to
Madit and appealed to the communities to cease these harmful practices.
“I am appealing to the people of Jonglei to stop abducting other people children, this is against human rights and the wellbeing of the children,” Cecilia appealed. “We will keep giving awareness to the people on the issue of child protection.’’