Tribute to Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot: The Scion of the Liberation Struggle in South Sudan (PART 1)

Part One: The Passing of Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot Bior-Kweigak (Part 1/3)

By PaanLuel Wël, Brisbane, Australia

1. Introduction

Thursday 13 August 2026 (PW) — Today, 13 August, two years ago in 2024, Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot Bior-Kweigak passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at his residence in Hai-Amarat, Juba, barely an hour after presiding over TECA executive meeting at his residence, bringing to a close an extradentary life that had traversed some of the most consequential chapters in the modern history of South Sudan. He began his public career in the classroom, serving as a professional teacher and school headmaster in Kongor Pawel, before exchanging the personal vocation of education for the national burdens of armed struggle and rising to become one of the senior commanders of the SPLM/SPLA liberation movement.

Gen. Bior-Aswad survived the long years of the liberation war, endured the internal divisions of the Movement, navigated the political uncertainties of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), participated in the establishment of the Government of Southern Sudan, and ultimately witnessed the eventual independence of the Republic of South Sudan on 09 July 2011.

At the time of his death, Gen. Bior-Aswad remained actively engaged in public service as chairperson of the Twic East Community Association (TECA) in Juba, continuing a family tradition in which leadership had long been inseparable from duty and sacrifice. His death therefore marked the departure of a living witness to the liberation era and of a descendant of a distinguished chieftaincy lineage whose members – his father, Paramount Chief Ajang Duot and his grandfather, Warrior Chief Duot Bior-Kweigak – had also died in the line of duty while carrying responsibilities on behalf of their people.

In the days of mourning that followed, the funeral and burial ceremonies became forums of historical testimony, as relatives, chiefs, clergy, former soldiers, commanders, political leaders and community representatives revisited his life, recalled the struggle through which South Sudan had been born, and confronted the troubling question of how a nation remembers or neglects the men and women whose sacrifices made its independence possible.

Part One of this series, “Tribute to Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot: The Scion of the Liberation Struggle in South Sudan,” examines the passing of Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot Bior-Kweigak, encompassing the circumstances of his death, the period of mourning, the funeral rites and burial ceremonies, the tributes delivered in his honour, and the reflections on his life, service and legacy that followed.

2. The Last Days of Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot Bior-Kweigak

Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot’s residence stood within a sprawling compound of seven houses in Hai-Amarat, the secluded Juba suburb where senior government officials, ministers, and top military officers reside, including President Kiir and Vice President Dr. Riek Machar. The compound itself occupied a conspicuous position along the main Ministries Road, which runs from Juba town to Buluk and the government ministries. At its centre stood Gen. Bior-Aswad’s two-storey main residence, surrounded by six other houses within the compound, which is bordered by Home and Away Business Centre in the direction of Mudria, the residence of Gen. Paul Mayom Akech toward J-1, and the residence of Gen. Kuol Ajak to the north, close to the offices of the First Lady Ayen Mayardit’s Concern organisation. Across the main road stood the Embassy of Zimbabwe, the Council of Ministers (senate), and the residences of former Inspectors General of Police Gen. Makwei Deng Majuch and Gen. Achuil Tito Manoah. Further afield stood the SPLM House, the UNDP compound, the residence of Gen. Joseph Lagu near Aron International Hotel, the J-1 presidential complex, and private residences of President Kiir, Vice President Dr Riek Machar, Vice President James Wani Igga, Senior Presidential Advisor Daniel Awet Akot, the late Gen. Paulino Matip Nhial and other senior government and military officials.

At his Hai-Amarat compound, Gen. Bior-Aswad lived among members of his extended family, including his three eldest sons (Ajang, Duot and Deng), his mother, Abotdit, as well as several brothers, sisters, nephews, cousins, nieces and other relatives and visitors. For many of them, the compound had become a place of refuge and belonging while they pursued their studies, sought employment, supported their families or otherwise struggled to establish themselves amid the challenging economic realities of Salva Kiir’s South Sudan. In this respect, Gen. Bior-Aswad’s home reflected the age-old Dinka understanding of family responsibility: the household of an elder was not simply his own, but a place to which members of the wider family could turn in times of need. And it was these members of his immediate and extended family who surrounded him during his final moments and rushed him to hospital after he suffered what the family described as a massive stroke followed by cardiac arrest on the evening of Tuesday, 13 August 2024 in Juba, South Sudan.

On that fateful day of 13 August 2024, Gen. Bior-Aswad spent the entire day at home, conversing with family members and visitors who came to see him and attending to TECA affairs, including the final TECA executive meeting he would ever preside over that afternoon as chairperson. This was typical of how he had spent much of his time since he was removed from the government office nearly a decade earlier; he seldom ventured far from his residence, much less beyond Juba, except for official engagements, community responsibilities and important public ceremonies. In January 2023, for example, President Salva Kiir invited him to accompany him to Bor, Jonglei State, for the commissioning of the Juba–Bor Road; in March 2024, he led members of the Twic East community to Panyagor for the Twic East Global Conference, which sought, among other objectives, to lay the foundations for the resettlement of the homeland after years of devastating floods; and in February 2023, he travelled to Terekeka to attend the launch of his biographical book, “General Bior Ajang Duot: A Beacon of Hope, Love and Unity for South Sudan,” written by Dr Lujang John Jangaling, a former SPLM/SPLA child soldier whom Gen. Bior-Aswad had sent to school during the liberation struggle and who later earned a PhD before writing the book in honour of his former commander.

The last official engagement Gen. Bior-Aswad attended outside Juba took place on 21 July 2024, when, in his capacity as TECA chairperson, he was invited by Jonglei State Governor Denay Jock Chagor to Bor for a state-sponsored peace and reconciliation meeting between the Ayual and Hol communities over the continuing conflict in the Toich area, following the killing of the legendary Ayual wrestler Deng Dau-Moradong by members of the Hol community at the Bioth-Agany fishing camp in the Sudd. Yet even that journey was brief, for Gen. Bior-Aswad returned to Juba the following day, 22 July 2024, in time to attend the marriage ceremony of his niece, Atong Mabior, the daughter of Mabior-Chienggwët Garang Bäny Atem.

Within Juba, Gen. Bior-Aswad was primarily engaged in activities connected with the Twic East Community Association (TECA), of which he was chairperson, and with Emmanuel Jieng Parish of the Episcopal Church, where he served as Chairperson of the Parish Council Committee (PCC), deputised by Prof. Abednego Akok Kachuol, Chairperson of South Sudan’s National Elections Commission. In that capacity, Gen. Bior-Aswad attended a parish meeting on 30 July 2024 and a church conference at Emmanuel Jieng Parish on 3 August 2024. On Sunday, 11 August 2024, just two days before his sudden passing, he attended what would become his final Sunday church service, a moment preserved in a photograph taken outside Emmanuel Jieng Parish after prayers.

Another of the last social gatherings attended by Gen. Bior-Aswad, apart from the church service on Sunday, 11 August 2024, was a get-together dinner held on Saturday, 10 August 2024, at Agot Place (Mina Hotel) near the Nile River, where he met with six colleagues and comrades from the liberation struggle era, including Gen. Malwal Majok, Gen. Kulang Mayen Kulang and Gen. Mabior Lual Machar, among others. During that final week, according to members of his family, the Inspector General of Police, Gen. Atem Deng-Marol Biar, himself a veteran of the liberation struggle and an old colleague of Gen. Bior-Aswad, also paid him a courtesy visit at his Hai-Amarat residence, where the two men held a private conversation that may have touched on security matters, including the continuing Ayual-Hol conflict around the Bioth-Agany fishing port in the Sudd region of Jonglei State.

Within the same week, Gen. Bior-Aswad also paid a courtesy visit to the residence of Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior. As Vice President Nyandeng later recalled after his passing, Gen. Bior-Aswad had gone to see her to raise a concern that weighed heavily on many veterans of their generation: what was to become of their children, many of whom remained jobless, frustrated and without clear prospects, and who, in the absence of opportunity, risked drifting into criminality or, worse still, joining the growing caravan of young South Sudanese men attempting the perilous journey to Europe through Libya and across the Mediterranean Sea, a route already taken by many, including some of Gen. Bior-Aswad’s own relatives.

On Monday, 12 August 2024, the day before his unexpected death, Gen. Bior-Aswad spent the entire day at home with his family and receiving the steady stream of visitors who regularly came to his residence to consult him on matters ranging from personal concerns and community affairs to broader national issues. One such visitor that Monday was his niece, Khot Awaak-Kolong Ajang Duot, who had recently returned from Uganda carrying a photograph entrusted to her by one of the former soldiers of President Milton Obote. After being defeated by Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement in 1986, the former soldiers had been welcomed and resettled by the SPLM/SPLA at Pakook, between Pochalla and Boma, purposely to exert strategic pressure on Museveni’s young government. It was an open secret that Kampala could either cultivate relations with the SPLM/SPLA or risk seeing these former Obote soldiers trained, armed and potentially unleashed against it, a calculation that helped lay the foundations for the military relationship between the SPLM/SPLA and Museveni’s government, which was subsequently nurtured into a durable alliance against the Khartoum government for the benefit of the SPLM/SPLA and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) for the benefit of Museveni’s government.

The former Obote soldier had met Khot in Uganda and recounted his experiences with the SPLM/SPLA, including his memories of Gen. Bior-Aswad as one of the senior military intelligence officers of the liberation struggle. When Khot Awaak-Kolong explained that Gen. Bior-Aswad was her maternal uncle and that she was travelling to Juba, the former soldier gave her his photograph to deliver to him as a remembrance of their shared years in the bush. Khot Awaak-Kolong arrived at Gen. Bior-Aswad’s residence at about 12pm, presented him with the photograph and narrated the story of the man pictured in it, including the fact that the former Obote soldier was married to a Shilluk woman who had once been a member of Katiba Banat and had been trained by Gen. Bior-Aswad. Gen. Bior-Aswad immediately recalled the man from their days at Pakook, explaining that he had served as a go-between linking the former Obote soldiers with the Chairman of the SPLM/SPLA, Dr John Garang.

At about 2pm, that Monday, after lunch, Gen. Bior-Aswad met with Dr Lujang John Jangaling, a former SPLM/SPLA child soldier whom he had once granted permission to leave the frontline and pursue his studies as part of the Terab, the seeds and future leaders of the New Sudan. After completing his education, including obtaining a doctorate (PhD), the former child soldier began writing the biography of his former commander in appreciation of what he regarded as Gen. Bior-Aswad’s farsighted decision to release him for studies at a time when such opportunities were often reserved for close relatives and in-laws, let alone for someone from the Mundari community, which was then generally regarded as hostile to the SPLM/SPLA. In his biographical book, Dr Lujang explained that Gen. Bior-Aswad’s background as a professional teacher had given him an instinctive appreciation of the importance of education to post-conflict reconstruction and nation-building after the liberation struggle, and that this understanding made it easier for him to release young soldiers such as Lujang from the frontline to pursue their studies.

That Monday afternoon, Dr Lujang John Jangaling, who had paid several visits to Gen. Bior-Aswad in the weeks and months preceding 13 August 2024, called at his residence for what became a final review of the book manuscript with his former commander. Neither man could have known that this would be their last meeting, for Gen. Bior-Aswad would pass away the following day. The biographical book, “General Bior Ajang Duot: A Beacon of Hope, Love and Unity for South Sudan,” was subsequently published in September 2024, after Gen. Bior-Aswad’s passing, and came to stand as a posthumous tribute to the SPLM/SPLA commander Dr Lujang regarded as a beacon of hope, love and unity in South Sudan.

3. The Passing of Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot Bior-Kweigak: 13 August 2024

On Tuesday, 13 August 2024, Gen. Bior-Aswad Ajang Duot woke up apparently in good health and began the familiar routines by which he had ordered his mornings for many years. Nothing in the household suggested that this day would be different from any other bright morning in Juba. Unbeknown to everyone at his residence, much less to Gen. Bior-Aswad himself, before the day had run its course, his life would come to an end. A man of considerable personal discipline and regimented habits, first formed during his years as a professional teacher and later hardened by the rigours of the liberation struggle, Gen. Bior-Aswad was accustomed to rising very early. His mornings ordinarily began with a modest regimen of physical exercises focused on his legs, hips, and lower back. In his later years, according to his family, Gen. Bior-Aswad lived with a heart condition that at times restricted blood flow and required regular medication and mild gout, a painful form of inflammatory arthritis associated with the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joints. After exercising, Gen. Bior-Aswad would sit outside and bask in the early morning sun, greeting members of the household one by one as they emerged from their rooms and began their own day.

At Gen. Bior-Aswad’s residence that day were numerous members of his immediate and extended family, including his elderly mother, Abot Deng Atem Ayaach (Palau, Anok, Pakeer); his three eldest sons, Ajang Bior-Aswad, Duot Bior-Aswad and Deng Bior-Aswad; and his brothers, Duot-MonyBor Ajang Duot, Duot-Mabiorachot Ajang Duot, Duot-Maluang Ajang Duot, Moulana Duot-Thii Ajang Duot and Bul-Maguor Ajang Duot. Also present were several cousins and nephews, among them Bior Deng-Marong Ajang Duot, Ajang Duot-Mang’ai Ajang Duot, Deng Duot-MonyBor Ajang Duot, Duot-Adau Deng-Marong Ajang Duot, Diktoor Ghak Maketh Ghak, Maj. Bior-Grenade Thon Wieu and Diing Akoi-Yal Nyuon (Diing Nyuon Bior-Bilrial), together with his personal driver, 1st Lt. Deng-Khem Atem Malwal, his personal bodyguard, 1st Lt. Mading Majok, and several other bodyguards who resided within the compound in their respective tukuls.

Among the women of the household present on that fateful day were his his sister, Achol-Ang’ath Ajang Duot; his niece, Awaak Duot-Gutghok Kongor Duot; his sister-in-law, Atiliu-Nyandong Diing Duot, wife of Duot-Gutghok; and his maternal nieces, Abot-Thii Deng Atem and Akoi Aluat. It was within this large family household, surrounded by those who had shared the rhythms of his daily life, that Gen. Bior-Aswad would spend the final hours of his life.

That morning, Gen. Bior-Aswad spent time chatting with his brothers, Duot-MonyBor, Bul-Maguor (Bul-Makungu), and his nephew Diing Nyuon Bior-Bilrial before they went for lunch. Under the neem tree within the compound, chairs had already been arranged in preparation for the TECA meeting scheduled for later that afternoon. Before the TECA meeting began, Gen. Bior-Aswad received a visit from the outgoing Twic East County Commissioner, Hon. Jacob Chol Toor Ghak-Mabiei, who had been removed from office on 8 August 2024 and replaced by Hon. Juach Arok Juach Ajang. Hon. Jacob Chol Toor was accompanied by the incoming commissioner, Hon. Juach Arok Juach, and the two men had come to consult Gen. Bior-Aswad, in his capacity as TECA chairperson and an elder statesman, on matters surrounding the handover of power and the inauguration of the new county commissioner. Both men were also close relatives and protégés of Gen. Bior-Aswad: Hon. Jacob Chol Toor was his nephew from Pande Ajang-Ghorbeek, while Hon. Juach Arok Juach was his maternal uncle from Anyang, Kongor.

Before the TECA meeting commenced, Agwer-Bil Bol Kwir-Guuk paid Gen. Bior-Aswad a private courtesy visit, but Gen. Bior-Aswad advised him to return after the meeting so that they could continue their discussion. Gen. Bior-Aswad was also scheduled to meet privately that evening, after the TECA meeting, with his cousin Gen. Bior-Matoto Kwir Deng Bior-Kweigak and his niece Awaak Duot-Gutghok in his private study room. At about 12pm, members of the Twic East Community Association executive and leaders of the various Payam associations began arriving at Gen. Bior-Aswad’s residence for the scheduled TECA meeting. Gen. Bior-Aswad attended the meeting accompanied by his personal bodyguard, Maj. Garang Mach Nyinkuany, who was present throughout and later briefed the family on what had transpired, particularly after rumours began circulating that some behind-the-scenes acrimony during the meeting had triggered Gen. Bior-Aswad’s heart attack and subsequent death, an allegation that those present at the meeting firmly rejected and which was subsequently debunked as false.

The TECA meeting, presided over by Gen. Bior-Aswad in his capacity as chairperson, began at about 1:00 p.m. and continued until approximately 5:45 p.m., according to family members who were present at the residence. Those in attendance included members of the TECA executive – Gen. Bior-Aswad as chairperson, Gen. Biar Mading as deputy chairperson, and Gen. Philip Agwer Panyang as Secretary General – as well as Twic East Youth Association (TEYA) Chairperson Arok Dut Arok, Twic East Women Association (TEWA) Chairlady Athieng Dau Toor, Twic East Girls Association (TEGA) Chairlady Adut Mamer Ayach, chairpersons of the various Payam associations, community leaders including Daniel Awang Duot, Deng Riak-Magany Akoi, Gen. Jurkuch Barach Jurkuch and Ajak Mayen Akook, together with Twic East customary authorities and political leaders. The meeting discussed a range of agenda items arising from the 2024 Panyagor resolutions, including flooding and dyke construction, insecurity, the progress of the Eastland resettlement program, broader peace and development initiatives, and the Oil Committee presented its report on proposed oil exploration and extraction in Jonglei State. The meeting also considered the impending inauguration of Hon. Juach Arok Juach, who had been appointed on 8 August 2024 as the new Twic East County Commissioner.

At about 4pm, in the middle of the TECA meeting, Gen. Deng-Marong Ajang Duot, the Honourable Chief Whip of the Jonglei State Assembly, had called Gen. Bior-Aswad from Bor to inquire about the health of Abotdit, Gen. Bior-Aswad’s elderly mother, who had been battling age-related illness and had spent about a week at Nile Specialist Hospital near Mobil Roundabout in Juba before being discharged. Gen. Bior-Aswad answered the call and advised his brother, Gen. Deng-Marong, that he was in the middle of the TECA meeting and would return his call afterwards. After the meeting ended, Gen. Bior-Aswad called his brother back at around 6pm.

The TECA meeting ended at about 5:45pm, after which the attendees dispersed to their respective homes, some having to drive as far as Sherikat and Gudele. After the meeting, Gen. Bior-Aswad walked over to the neem trees where members of his household were playing dominoes and greeted them. As he was about to settle down and chat with them, he received a telephone call from an unknown person, which he took at some distance from the others for privacy. After the call, he proceeded to check on his elderly and ailing mother, Abotdit, at her house. On his way to see Abotdit, Gen. Bior-Aswad met and warmly greeted his niece, Awaak Duot-Gutghok, who was waiting for the private conversation they had arranged to hold in his study room after the TECA meeting. Both Gen. Bior-Matoto and Awaak Duot-Gutghok had recently returned from Uganda and wished to catch up with Gen. Bior-Aswad that evening.

Upon reaching his mother’s house at around 6pm, Gen. Bior-Aswad was informed by Abot-Thii and Achol-Ang’ath that his mother was in the shower. He therefore stepped outside and took several phone calls from unknown numbers; the identity of the callers remains uncertain because his phone has remained locked since his passing. After taking and returning some calls, he went back to check on his mother, only to be told that she was still being dressed and that Abot-Thii would fetch him once she was ready. A dutiful and caring son, Gen. Bior-Aswad habitually checked on his mother three times a day: in the morning after waking up, in the afternoon after lunch, and in the evening before retiring to his room. Finding that she was still being dressed after her shower, Gen. Bior-Aswad proceeded to his own room to shower before the private conversations scheduled that evening with Gen. Bior-Matoto and Awaak Duot-Gutghok; he was also expected to meet Agwer-Bil, as he had promised earlier that afternoon when Agwer-Bil called on him before the TECA meeting.

Once inside his room, Gen. Bior-Aswad probably changed out of the official clothes he had worn for the TECA meeting and went to take a shower. It was a well-established routine for him to lock his room whenever he was away or in the shower, because parts of his house were regularly used by community associations, family members and colleagues to keep sensitive documents and other valuables. It was this ordinary precaution that explained why his door was locked that evening, contrary to later rumours suggesting that Gen. Bior-Aswad had deliberately locked himself inside in order to take his own life and prevent others from intervening.

Before entering his room to take a shower, Gen. Bior-Aswad had dispatched his personal driver, Deng-Khem Atem Malwal, to fetch fruit and airtime from a nearby market, while separately sending his personal bodyguard, Mading Majok, to collect supper for the guests who were scheduled to meet him later that evening in his private study room, which Gen. Bior-Aswad used for his doctoral studies and research; at the time of his death, Gen. Bior-Aswad was still pursuing a PhD.

A few minutes after he had entered his room, Gen. Bior-Matoto arrived shortly before 7pm and went directly to see him, but repeated knocks on the door went unanswered. Gen. Bior-Matoto then called Awaak Duot-Gutghok and told her that Gen. Bior-Aswad was neither responding to the knocks nor answering his phone. Awaak Duot-Gutghok, who had just finished showering and was waiting for their scheduled meeting, immediately went to check on him herself, but despite knocking repeatedly at the door, there was still no response from inside.

After receiving no response, Awaak Duot-Gutghok returned to the neem tree and rejoined Gen. Bior-Matoto, Bul-Makungu, Duot-MonyBor, Bior Deng-Marong and other members of the family, some of whom were still seated on chairs that had been used during the TECA meeting. Gen. Bior-Matoto was told that Gen. Bior-Aswad had only recently gone inside to take a shower and was probably still in the bathroom, having arrived only a few minutes after Gen. Bior-Aswad had entered his room. Nothing at that stage appeared alarming, and the family members gathered beneath the neem tree continued their conversation while waiting for Gen. Bior-Aswad to emerge.

After about 20-30 minutes, both Deng-Khem Atem and Mading Majok returned from the market and, separately, went straight to his room and knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside. At about the same time, Achol-Ang’ath sent Abot-Thii to inform Gen. Bior-Aswad that his mother, Abotdit, was now dressed and ready to see him; Abot-Thii likewise went to his room and knocked, but again there was no answer. Deng-Khem and Mading Majok then returned to the family members gathered beneath the neem tree and reported that Gen. Bior-Aswad was not responding to their knocks, while Abot-Thii went back to Achol-Ang’ath and conveyed the same troubling news.

Visibly alarmed, Achol-Ang’ath Ajang Duot, the youngest child of Gen. Bior-Aswad’s mother, went to join the family members gathered beneath the neem tree and told Duot-MonyBor that they needed to check on Gen. Bior-Aswad because he was neither responding to knocks on his door nor answering his phone. She arrived just as Deng-Khem, the personal driver, and Mading Majok, the personal bodyguard, were conveying the same message to those seated under the neem tree: Gen. Bior-Aswad was not responding. To everyone at the residence, this was highly unusual, for family members recalled that Gen. Bior-Aswad normally answered anyone who knocked on his door, even when he was in the shower or resting in bed.

In response, Bul-Makungu dispatched Bior Deng-Marong to knock again at the door and check through the bedroom window to determine whether Gen. Bior-Aswad was asleep in the bedroom or still in the shower. Bior Deng-Marong went to the room, knocked repeatedly and looked through the window, but could not clearly see inside, and returned to report that there was still no response; others later recalled seeing only Gen. Bior-Aswad’s knees through the window. By this point, alarm had turned into panic, and family members rushed toward the house, knocking loudly on the door and checking the windows in an increasingly desperate effort to gain access and find out what had happened.

The front door was heavily secured and could not easily be forced open. Bior Deng-Marong went to the upper floor to see whether access could be gained from above, while Bul-Makungu, Duot-MonyBor and Achol-Ang’ath moved toward the rear window, and Gen. Bior-Matoto, Awaak Duot-Gutghok and others continued knocking loudly at the front door. Bul-Makungu eventually managed to force his way through the rear window, using boxes containing money stored inside the room to lower himself into the bedroom, where he found Gen. Bior-Aswad lying “ke taar” on the bed, with his feet on the floor and his mouth agape. Duot-MonyBor followed him through the window, and Achol-Ang’ath came in after them before opening the front door for Gen. Bior-Matoto and the others. Bul-Makungu and Duot-MonyBor immediately began frantic attempts to resuscitate Gen. Bior-Aswad with CPR and tried, unsuccessfully, to give him water, believing at first that he might have collapsed from dehydration after the long hours of community meetings that day. “He was in the meeting the whole day and he might have been suffering from dehydration,” one family member later recalled.

According to the family, Gen. Bior-Aswad was found unconscious on his bed, his body still warm but no longer breathing, his mouth agape, dressed only in a brown shirt with a blue towel draped over one shoulder, while his body was still wet from the shower. Beside him on the bed lay a blood-pressure monitor, suggesting that he had felt something was wrong either while showering or immediately afterwards and had attempted to check his blood pressure.

To the family, the fact that he was still only partially dressed and had made neither an emergency call nor any attempt to summon those outside indicated how sudden and severe the medical crisis had been, affording him little or no time to dress or seek help. He may have collapsed while attempting to put on his jalabiya, which was found in the bedroom and was subsequently placed over his body by Achol-Ang’ath as the family hurriedly carried Gen. Bior-Aswad from the room and rushed him to hospital.

While everyone at the residence was still in shock and frantically attempting to resuscitate Gen. Bior-Aswad, it was Gen. Bior-Matoto who, at around 7pm, called Dr Chep Chuot Dhuol, MD, of Nile Kings Hospital and informed him that Gen. Bior-Aswad had collapsed in his room and was unconscious and unresponsive. Dr Chep Chuot, who is Gen. Bior-Aswad’s family doctor and army colleague, advised the family to take him immediately to Nile Kings Hospital.

Bior-Matoto instructed the driver, Deng-Khem, to start the vehicle and bring it closer to the room, while Bior-Matoto, Bul-Makungu and Bior Deng-Marong carried Gen. Bior-Aswad into the vehicle. He was immediately ferried to Nile Kings Hospital, a private medical centre founded in 2021 and located in Nimra Talata along Malakia Road in Juba, South Sudan, operating 24 hours a day and providing emergency and intensive care services, specialist medical consultations, and surgical care.

In the front seat of the vehicle were the driver and Gen. Bior-Matoto, who remained on the phone informing Gen. Bior-Aswad’s family members, colleagues and former comrades, including Gen. Gier Chuang, Dr Majak Agoot and Gen. Philip Agwer Panyang; in the back seat, alongside Gen. Bior-Aswad, were Bul-Makungu, Duot-MonyBor, Diing Nyuon Bior-Bilrial, Achol-Ang’ath and Atiliu-Nyandong, who continued their frantic efforts to resuscitate him through CPR as the vehicle sped toward the hospital.

Upon their arrival, Dr Chep Chuot thoroughly examined Gen. Bior-Aswad and attempted, unsuccessfully, to administer oxygen before pronouncing him dead. Dr Chep Chuot explained to the family that, in his assessment, Gen. Bior-Aswad had already passed away at his residence and that there was nothing further that could be done at that stage to resuscitate him. Dr Chep Chuot further informed the family that Gen. Bior-Aswad appeared to have suffered a heart attack followed by cardiac arrest at his residence.

Unable and unwilling to immediately accept the unbearable finality of the news, Bul-Makungu called Dr Mayen, another family doctor, and informed him of Gen. Bior-Aswad’s condition; Dr Mayen immediately came to Nile Kings Hospital, examined Gen. Bior-Aswad himself, and delivered the same painful verdict as Dr Chep Chuot.

Gen. Deng-Marong, who had spoken with Gen. Bior-Aswad twice that day, first at about 4pm and again at around 6 pm, received a call from Bior-Grenade while Gen. Bior-Aswad was being rushed to the hospital; a few minutes later, he called back to inquire what the doctors had said, only to receive the devastating news that his elder brother was no more. Following the earlier passing of Bior-Toohr, Bior-Mataw and Bior-Maroor, Gen. Bior-Aswad had, by default, become the eldest surviving son of Paramount Chief Ajang and therefore the head of the Ajang-Abanythok family under Dinka custom. With Gen. Bior-Aswad’s passing, that responsibility passed to Duot-Mang’ai Ajang Duot, the Head Chief of the Kongor community and Deputy Paramount Chief of Twic East community.

Meanwhile, by about 8pm, as the two doctors continued examining Gen. Bior-Aswad to ascertain his condition and determine whether there remained any possibility of saving him, members of his family, relatives, friends and former military colleagues began descending on Nile Kings Hospital after receiving the breaking news through phone calls and word of mouth. Among the first of Gen. Bior-Aswad’s colleagues to arrive that evening were Gen. Gier Chuang Aluong, Gen. Ajak Deng Reng (Ajak Agwet Bior-Jogheer), Gen. Deng Garang Bäny, Gen. Dhiak Chol Dhiak, Maj. Garang Mach Nyinkuany, Dr Akol Diing Duot, Gen. Abuoi Arok Deng, Dr Majak Agoot Atem, Gen. Biar Mading Biar, Gen. Philip Agwer Panyang, Hon. Deng Dau Deng Malek, Gen. Ajak Duot Ghak, Gen. Pieng Deng-Majok Kuol, Gen. James Hoth Mai, Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol, Gen. Malwal Majok Chiengkou and Gen. Abel Manyok Ajak, among others.

Family members who had not been at the Hai-Amarat residence that evening, including his three sons – Ajang, Duot and Deng – and nephews such as Moulana Thon Agwer-Ayupyaar, Moulana Ghak-Mator Jurkuch, Moulana Ajang-Thii Duot-Dit and Deng Duoth-Thith, also hurried to the hospital to join the family as the terrible news of Gen. Bior-Aswad’s passing began to spread across Juba.

That night, it was Gen. Gier Chuang Aluong and Dr Majak Agoot Atem who informed Vice President Mama Rebecca Nyandeng of the demise of Gen. Bior-Aswad, while Gen. Kuol Atem Apai, Deputy Commander of the Tiger Division, conveyed the news to President Kiir that Gen. Bior-Aswad, who had succeeded CDR Salva Kiir as the second head of the SPLM/SPLA Military Intelligence and Security Services, had died.

As the night progressed, it was not long before social media became ablaze with breaking reports that a senior military officer, veteran of the liberation struggle and former senior government official had suffered a heart attack and been rushed to hospital in critical condition; soon afterwards, social media declared Gen. Bior-Aswad dead, long before all members of his family within and outside South Sudan, including his wife and children in Eldoret, Kenya, and relatives in Australia, the United States, Canada and Europe, could be reached and formally informed of his passing that night.

As a result, many family members learned the shocking news directly from social media or from heartbroken friends and relatives who raced against the rapidly spreading reports to inform them personally; it was an arduous task given the sheer size and global spread of the family of Paramount Chief Ajang Duot, the extended family of Chief Duot Bior, the wider Pande Bior-Kweigak and Pande Bior Ajang-Ghorbeek, Wut Apietloch and Wut Kongor, the Twic Dinka community of which Gen. Bior-Aswad was chairperson, family friends and in-laws, colleagues in the national army and security services, and, most importantly, his comrades from the SPLM/SPLA liberation struggle.

Reportedly, after Dr Chep Chuot had pronounced Gen. Bior-Aswad deceased from heart failure and ruled out any realistic prospect of successful resuscitation, the doctors recommended that a post-mortem examination be conducted as a matter of urgency to establish how and why he had died. The family seriously considered the recommendation because Gen. Bior-Aswad’s death had been sudden and unexpected. Gen. Bior-Aswad had not been taken ill, had not been admitted to hospital, and had made no complaint of serious illness that morning or even after the conclusion of the TECA meeting at about 5:45pm, only to collapse and pass away roughly an hour later. Nonetheless, after considerable discussion, the family decided against proceeding with an autopsy, concluding that whatever its findings, there was unlikely to be any practical or actionable outcome arising from the report.

Two principal reasons were advanced for that decision. First, Gen. Bior-Aswad was over seventy-five years of age, had a known history of underlying heart problems, and, on the medical assessment of the doctors who examined him, could reasonably have died from heart failure followed by cardiac arrest. Second, even if an autopsy had raised suspicions of poisoning or some other external cause, some family members reasoned that any subsequent investigation, whether undertaken by the government or pursued by the family, might not ultimately yield justice, particularly in a country where other politically sensitive and controversial deaths, including that of Dr John Garang in July 2005, have remains unresolved.

At about 10pm, Dr Chep Chuot provided an ambulance and advised the family to transfer Gen. Bior-Aswad’s body to Juba Funeral Home Mortuary along Bilpham Road in Juba. The family accordingly resolved to move the body, and the military ambulance carrying Gen. Bior-Aswad was escorted by several vehicles transporting family members and relatives, family friends, colleagues and comrades; inside the ambulance were some of his immediate relatives and closest colleagues, including Duot-MonyBor, Bul-Makungu, Gen. Gier Chuang, Gen. Deng Garang Bäny, Gen. Dhiak Chol and Gen. Malwal Majok, among others. Upon arrival at the mortuary, the body was washed and dressed up, treated and injected with embalming chemicals, a medical procedure that serves to temporarily sanitize, preserve, and restore the body for public viewing and funeral services.

Thereafter, at about midnight, the cortège returned to Gen. Bior-Aswad’s residence in Hai-Amarat to mark the beginning of the national mourning period. Meanwhile, after the body had been transferred to the mortuary, the mourners who had gathered at Nile Kings Hospital also proceeded to Gen. Bior-Aswad’s residence to offer their condolences and mourn alongside the family of Duot Bior-Kweigak for the loss of their son, the Twic East community for the loss of their chairperson, and the Government of South Sudan for the loss of a colleague, veteran and comrade of the liberation struggle.

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Sources and References

(A) Conversations and Personal Communications

1. Conversation with Gen Deng-Marong Ajang Duot (9 August 2026).

2. Conversation with Gen Bior-Matoto Kwir Deng-Aliau (29 July 2025).

3. Conversation with Awaak Duot-Gutghok Kongor (28 July 2026).

4. Conversation with Khot Awaak-Kolong Ajang Duot (29 July 2026).

5. Conversation with Moulana Thon Agwer-Ayupyaar Bior (4 August 2026).

6. Conversation with Moulana Duot-Thii Ajang Duot (6 August 2026).

7. Conversation with Bul-Maguor Ajang Duot (6 August 2026).

8. Conversation with Deng Duot Deng Jok (9 August 2026).

9. Conversation with Bior Deng-Marong Ajang Duot (9 August 2026).

(B) Published Sources

10. Lujang John Jangaling, General Bior Ajang Duot: A Beacon of Hope, Love and Unity for South Sudan (Virtue Book Publishers, 2024).

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