Two abducted girls have been reunited with their families during a ceremony in Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) capital, Pibor town, on Tuesday, authorities said.

Abraham Kelang, the GPAA information minister, and the acting chief administrator told Radio Tamazuj that the two girls aged 14 each were abducted from GPAA’s Likuangole area in 2009 and had since been with their abductors in the neighboring Jonglei State’s Uror County. 

“Today we received two twin girls aged 14. They were abducted in 2009 from Likuangole by elements from Lou Nuer and they had since been in Yuai town of Uror,” Kelang said. “Some weeks ago, with the help of some aid agencies, they managed to escape from their abductors, and then they were taken to Juba and now they are with us in Pibor town."

One of the abductees who identified herself only as Nyachieng said they were happy to be reunited with their biological parents after escaping. 

“I am grateful to all those organizations which cared for us and facilitated our reunion after escaping from Yuai town. We were abducted in 2009 from an area called Kongor but last month we managed to safely escape,” she said.

For his part, Lado Emmanuel Elia, a representative of the local organization GREDO in Pibor town said they facilitated the handover of the abductees today and that they will continue providing psycho-social support until the girls adapt to the new environment in Pibor. 

“Those two children were taken I think in 2009 to that side of Yuai. Fortunately, with the help of the organizations there and the government, they help to recover the two children,” he said. “As I am speaking with you now, they are reunified with the parents but because we still need to be giving them psychosocial support we are still temporarily hosting them in our interim area center.” 

However, Machot Gatluak Kenyjak, the Uror County commissioner, said he was not aware of the recovery and reunion of the two girls.