28 kidnapped children freed in Sudan

JUBA, Sudan, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A total of 28 children abducted in Jonglei State in Southern Sudan were freed last month, the United Nations said Thursday.

The commissioner of Pibor County won the children's freedom after starting an initiative aimed at ending child kidnapping in the state, officials said.

"We call upon the relevant authorities to ensure that all children still in captivity be released as soon as possible and that the practice of child abduction is brought to a stop wherever they may be in southern

Sudan," said Lise Grande, the U.N. deputy resident and humanitarian coordinator.

Thousands of children in the region have been driven from their homes, kidnapped and killed because of attacks by the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army and tribal fighting in southern Sudan.

At least nine of the freed children are from Ethiopia and eight from Southern Sudan, the United Nations said. They are living temporarily in Juba while officials try to find their families.