South Sudan’s military says it has arrested eight suspects over alleged child abduction and trafficking in Juba, amid reports of 23 children missing from the Mangateen residential area.
Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, spokesperson for the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), said on Saturday that military intelligence personnel arrested the suspects during an operation targeting criminal activities in Souk Darfur, an area of Juba’s Mangateen neighbourhood.
“These people were caught red-handed getting involved in the business of kidnapping, abducting and trafficking in children,” Koang told journalists at Giada Barracks in Juba.
He said the suspects allegedly played different roles in the network, including enticing children, keeping them in safe houses and identifying potential buyers. Three of the suspects presented by the military are SSPDF personnel, while civilians are also among those arrested.
Koang said authorities had received repeated reports of children disappearing from their homes and markets in Souk Darfur, also known as Darfur Market. The reports prompted military intelligence personnel to monitor the area and gather information from residents.
One child, identified as Hakim, has been recovered and reunited with his family, while the military said eight other children had been traced to people suspected of holding them.
Hakim’s father, Kuol, said his son went missing on September 15 while his parents were at work. When they returned home in the evening, they discovered that the child was missing and began searching the neighbourhood.
“When we returned home in the evening, we found that my child was missing,” Kuol said, adding that other children told him Hakim had gone to a video hall with another boy.
He said the family searched the area and later received information that Hakim had been taken to Mogiri, but they were unable to find him until security personnel intervened.
Kuol said he intended to pursue the case through the courts to ensure justice for his son. He added that he had been taking Hakim for medical treatment since his recovery.
“The stress I had when the child was kidnapped, I was not eating, and at night I could not sleep. I am very exhausted with this issue,” he said.
Kuol also thanked the government and security personnel for their efforts to recover his son.
Meanwhile, one of the suspects, identified as Ayella Dominic Onono Nelson, a minor, told journalists that he had delivered three children to a woman identified as Mary, allegedly acting on instructions from another suspect named Angok.
“We started this operation in 2025,” Nelson said, alleging that Angok had instructed him to take a child named Atem to Mary’s home, where another child named Geng was also staying.
Nelson said he had delivered three children in separate operations and received rewards in return. He alleged that he was given a bicycle for himself and his child after the first delivery, 400,000 South Sudanese pounds after the second delivery and 200,000 pounds after the third.
He said he used some of the money to buy clothes.
The SSPDF spokesman said the alleged trafficking network involved people from different communities, with some suspects accused of arranging the transfer of children to buyers in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.
He alleged that children were sold for millions of South Sudanese pounds in Juba, while transactions in Greater Pibor could involve livestock. According to the spokesperson, girls were allegedly sold for 15 million South Sudanese pounds in Juba, while boys fetched between 7 million and 9 million pounds.
In Greater Pibor, boys were reportedly exchanged for between 45 and 50 cows, while girls were exchanged for between 30 and 45 cows, Koang said.
The army spokesperson warned that child abduction and trafficking are no longer confined to areas traditionally associated with such incidents in Greater Jonglei, saying the activities had spread to residential areas of Juba.
Koang said suspects with military backgrounds would remain under military jurisdiction for possible military trials, while civilian suspects would be handed over to the police for further legal proceedings.
He appealed to parents and guardians to monitor their children’s movements and urged residents to report suspicious activities to security agencies. He also called on the public and media outlets to circulate photographs of missing children to help investigators trace them.
Koang said investigations are continuing as authorities seek to recover the remaining missing children and establish the level of involvement of each suspect.
Captain Achol Lazarus Garang, legal adviser to the SSPDF’s Military Intelligence, described child trafficking as a threat to families and communities across the country and urged residents to work together to combat the practice.
“Human trafficking is a threat not only to one family, but to every family in Juba,” Garang said, appealing to parents and guardians to remain vigilant about their children’s safety.
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