Eyewitnesses say children being sold on streets of Bor as armed youth return from Pibor

BOR, JANUARY 14^TH 2023 (SUDANS POST) – Eyewitnesses in Jonglei state’s capital Bor are telling Sudans Post that at least two children abducted from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) by armed youth who attacked the Murle area recently were sold on the streets of the Jonglei State’s capital and that armed youth celebrated their attacks on Pibor in presence of Governor Denay Chagor.

There is a video currently circulating on social media in which armed men speaking in Nuer could be heard saying that a young girl, who appeared in the video, was sold by at least 500,000 South Sudanese Pound and that his brother was sold earlier in the day by the same armed youth to an unnamed person in the Jonglei State capital.

When contacted by Sudans Post, a eyewitness said that he had saw children being sold on the streets of the capital Bor and that there was no sign that security agencies, who were all over the state capital, were doing anything to arrest the culprits.

“What I have seen is a disaster and I can’t image how South Sudan has turned into something that we never experience in Sudan when we were still one. Two children were being sold and I saw that the men who were carrying them was looking for customers in the streets and was being seen by anybody and no one interfered,” the eyewitness who refused not to be named said.

Another Eyewitness who also refused not to be named said that the young who was sold “is Murle girl. Her parents were killed and she was abducted with her younger brother. The brother has been sold. And she was sold to a different person.”

In a video circulating on social media, Governor Denay Chagor can be seen watching and also raising his hands to salute the tribal fighters. Attempts by Sudans Post to reach out to security sources inside Bor were unsuccessful.

‘BARBARIC ACT’

South Sudan economist Peter Biar Ajak condemned the free movement of the armed “bandits” inside and described the alleged auctioning of the children as a barbaric act.

“This is a barbaric act! We cannot condone slavery anywhere in South Sudan. And we cannot have the State Government welcoming bandits who have abducted children and selling them with open arms into the state capital! It is absolutely outrageous!” he said.

“This incident shows how much we have fallen from our ideals and aspirations as a people.

“40 years ago, Kerbino Kwanyin Bol launched the struggle for our freedom in the city of Bor. Today, the same city is hosting slave markets at which our children are being sold.

“And instead of confronting perpetrators of these heinous crimes, the Governor can be seen openly celebrating with them. It is absolutely sad. What has become of our liberation struggle?”