Baby boy found abandoned in Majok-Yithiou

AWEIL – A newborn baby boy was found abandoned in a bush in Majok-Yithiou, a border town in Aweil East County of South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, local authorities said on Thursday.

Majok-Yithiou Mayor Akok Lual told Sudans Post by phone that a woman searching for grass for thatching discovered the infant on Wednesday morning.

The baby, wrapped in cloth and placed in a carton, had been left in a hole in the ground.

The woman heard the baby crying, retrieved him, and brought him to local authorities, Lual said. The baby was healthy and taken to a health center for a check-up.

Lual said an investigation had been launched to find the person who abandoned the child.

“We speculate that the young girl might have feared of responsibility or a woman whose husband is far and had heard of his coming back who committed such act,” he said.

The mayor urged residents to avoid relationships that could lead to unwanted pregnancies.

In a separate incident, Lual said a car traveling from Merram in Southern Kordofan to Majok to obtain fuel caught fire just as it was about to stop.

All passengers escaped unharmed, but the vehicle was completely destroyed. The cause of the fire is unknown, he said.