BY YASIR ARMAN
In recent years, the departure of many comrades, who I met during the vibrant years of youth, has saddened me; however, I have never felt the pain and sorrow I did upon the passing of Commander Bior Ajang Duot, who passed away in Juba yesterday, August 13, 2024.
I can confidently say that the city of Juba has not grieved as it has for Bior Aswad since the martyrdom of John Garang. His untimely departure has awakened sorrows and brought forth the earth’s burdens of grief.
Bior Aswad passed away quietly in his home in Juba, just as he lived in his tumultuous world of countless military battles, which he faced without fear or hesitation. Bior Aswad played a pivotal role, and the history of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army would be incomplete without mentioning his name.
I first met Bior Aswad, or Bior Ajang, in Eastern Equatoria in 1988 when I joined Dr. John Garang’s mobile headquarters on our way to Kapoeta. He was the second-in-command and the chief officer in the headquarters at that time. Aswad was an amazing person, noble in character, humble, and virtuous. If his virtues were distributed across a city, it would become a virtuous city. Almost four decades have passed since I first met him, and throughout those years, he remained as he was, deeply rooted in the ethics of teachers.
Before joining the SPLA, he was a teacher in elementary schools, and during the summer and autumn years he went through, he was always smiling and welcoming to everyone who knew him.
He inherited from his fathers, the chiefs of the Kongor area in the countryside of Bor, the trait of keeping his home’s doors wide open. Just an hour before his departure, his home was filled with people from Bor who had come to discuss issues concerning their region with him. He had left the government, the army, and authority years ago, but his moral and ethical authority remained, even after his departure.
When he was in his home without medals and pomp, what a man he was! If you asked the earth who liberated it and the earth had a tongue, if it mentioned the people at the beginning, Bior Aswad would certainly be among them. I must, in another article, paint a picture of Commander Bior Aswad for those who did not meet or know him.
Today, I want to record my gratitude and acknowledgment to him. When I joined Dr. Garang’s mobile headquarters, many comrades welcomed me, while others were wary of me as someone coming from distant lands. But Bior Aswad extended to me the wings of love and noble brotherhood, filling our world with stories, laughter, wit, and gallantry. He treated me as a brother not born from the same mother throughout all the years I knew him until his passing.
He was Bior Aswad, and what a man he was. When I recall the years in the South, Bior Ajang always remains in my memory, a memory of love and gratitude. I kept in constant contact with him through social media. Bior was a human being and a brave warrior filled with humanity; thus, his loss today is deeply felt by everyone who knew him.
Condolences to his family, children, kin, comrades, friends, and the people, government, and state of South Sudan. Blessed be Bior Aswad on earth and in heaven. Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men.
To Bior Aswad, love and gratitude. Thank you for being with us during the difficult war years, which you made more humane. What a man, a fighter, and a knight. August 14, 2024 Pictures of the grief that engulfed Juba over Bior Aswad, and the last pictures that gathered me with him in his home in Juba.
The writer is the chairperson of the SPLM/Revolutionary Current in Sudan and can be reached via Armanarman.yasir@gmail.com.