By Kei Emmanuel Duku
A high-profile Juba wedding scheduled for Valentine’s Day was forced into a dramatic standoff after security officials and community leaders intervened to halt the ceremony, citing political insecurity and tribal tensions. Josephine Adhet Deng, the woman at the center of the controversy, has broken her silence to detail a harrowing journey of child marriage, physical assault at the seat of government, and a desperate struggle for the right to choose her own husband.
The planned union between Ms. Deng and her fiancé on February 14, 2026, was derailed just hours before the exchange of vows when she was summoned by security officials in Juba. According to Ms. Deng, she was confronted by an officer who interrogated her choice of partner based on his ethnicity.
“He was attacking me, saying, why you want to get married to a man outside your ethnicity while people are fighting in their area,” Ms. Deng said, recounting the interrogation. She insisted that her personal life should not be dictated by tribal politics, stating, “I, big enough, know what I want. I know what is best for me.”
The intervention took an even darker turn when a security official allegedly threatened to use “12 logistical capacity cars” to shut the wedding down by force. Ms. Deng recalled the final chilling warning she received as she left the office: “If you attempt to do the wedding, we will shoot everybody in the hall.”
This political blockade is the latest chapter in Ms. Deng’s decades-long battle against systemic abuse. Her first marriage occurred in 2003 when she was just eight years old—a union she claims was orchestrated “undercover” by her elder brother and a high-ranking military General in exchange for 37 cows. Ms. Deng alleges she was taken directly from school and held in the General’s house alongside ten other girls.
“My brother, he used to control my life. He was thinking that I am still that little girl, which he can do whatever he wants over me,” Ms. Deng explained. She remained in that marriage for nearly twenty years, a period she describes as being marked by physical violence and emotional abuse.
The situation reached a violent peak on December 14, 2022, during a meeting at the Council of States premises. Ms. Deng alleges that after a heated argument regarding their children’s education, the Military General who also doubles as a Member of Parliament at the council ordered his soldiers to close the doors and shoot her. When the soldiers refused, she claims they were ordered to tie her hands and legs before the General proceeded to beat her in his office within the compound of the parliament.
“He beat me in the compound of the parliament of the Council of States,” Ms. Deng said, noting that she was eventually rescued by then the Speaker of the Council of States. As she attempted to flee the premises, she alleges the General’s son fired a weapon at her vehicle. “The first bullet was missing, but his bullet caught the vehicle,” she recalled.
In the midst of the chaos, the Speaker of the Council of State intervened by calling the Inspector of General of Police to come to her rescue. The Inspector of Police arrived and personally took Ms. Deng from the Council of States to the hospital, later ensuring she was placed in a safe house for ten days before she could safely file for divorce.
Ms. Deng also highlighted the role of one of the high profile politician in the country in attempting to resolve the domestic crisis. Before the final separation, a meeting was held where politician intervened to provide her with her own space.
“The stepfather of this nation said he will rent a house to let me stay in with my kids,” she explained. However, even after the stepfather solved the issue and authorized her to move, she alleges the General forcibly took over the house and burned her academic documents and university certificates to prevent her from working.
Despite the official “postponement” announced by community leaders and the documented threats from security forces, Ms. Deng remains defiant, insisting that marriage is a social union based on love, not a matter of state security or constitutional law.
“What beats my understanding is how my marriage now become a constitutional mirage,” she said. “It’s nothing concerning the government, it’s not concerning the community leaders. It’s just a union between two of us.”
Ms. Deng confirmed that she is currently with her new husband and intends to proceed with the union, supported by relatives who have traveled from their village despite receiving threats. “These threats will not stop us from marrying,” she affirmed. “We will conduct the marriage and as I speak I am with him.”