UN Mission reunites 58 abducted women, children with their families in South Sudan

JUBA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said 58 women and children who were abducted last year during vicious inter-communal fighting in Jonglei State are finally being reunited with their families.

The UN mission, working together with its partners, said the exchange of abducted women and children came following a community-led goodwill agreement between the Lou Nuer, Murle and Dinka Bor ethnic communities.

David Shearer, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for South Sudan and head of UNMISS, said the agreement reached to release abducted women and children is an essential step to build trust and avoid the cycle of revenge.

"Abductions are a horrific aspect of conflict in this area. I applaud all those involved for their efforts to reunite these innocent victims with their families," Shearer said in a statement issued in Juba Friday evening.

The UN estimates that as many as 686 women and children were abducted during the extreme violence between these communities in Jonglei and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) between January and August 2020.

UNMISS said efforts are continuing to return the remaining women and children.

It said the reunion is the first part of a coordinated program supported by the UN's Reconciliation, Stabilization and Resilience Trust Fund to tackle the underlying drivers of conflict between communities that have plagued the Jonglei region for years.

The intensive efforts to broker peace between the three communities have been underway since December 2020, backed by the UNMISS working together with agencies.