Abduction on Juba’s outskirt leaves residents scared

By Tapeng Michael Ohure

As South Sudanese joined the rest of the world to usher in the new year, it was all scary for residents of Jebel Amianin area  in Gumbo Shirkhat on the outskirt of the capital Juba.Abductors suspected to have traveled from Murle land in Greater Pibor stormed the area, making away with a child, according to area people.According to residents who spoke to Juba Echo, the attackers stormed the area in the last hours of 2021, shooting in the area before abducting the child, also leaving two people injured.”I first saw them when they were entering our area because I was outside with my husband and our children,” an eye witness who identified herself only as Amuna told Juba Echo.”Suddenly, they fired at us and we all ran in different directions. And in less than a minute, we heard one child crying  Nancy, Nancy help me in Arabic while being dragged,” Amuna said.
According to her police inspected the area the following morning but when Juba Echo sought clarification, spokesperson Daniel Justin Buolo could not be reached on his known telephone number.
Another resident who identified himself as Faruk concurred with Amuna that a child was abducted and two people injured in the area.”Actually the people came at night and shot at us injuring two people. They took one child from our area,” Faruk said.The Director in charge of Gumbo Police Station, Ayuen denied having knowledge of the incident. 
“We didn’t receive any information regarding the abduction of a child in Jebel Amianin,” he told Juba Echo.Gumbo Shirkhat has been a scene of several abductions in the past.Some children have been recovered from Pibor by the authorities in recent years.South Sudan’s government has no strong mechanism at the moment to retrieve abducted children, instead it uses the administrative government in Pibor to investigate and recover children