In Juba, the capital of South Sudan, groups of young men and women were singing as they walked along the main road of Sherikat, on the eastern bank of the White Nile. Maneuvering through the slow-moving traffic, the boys carried long sticks while the girls wore colorful beads, skirts, and lawas, a long piece of fabric tied over the shoulder.
Together with thousands of other Dinka, one of the largest ethnic groups in South Sudan, they danced late into the night at the agam ceremony (“acceptance” in Dinka) that celebrates the completion of a “marriage competition,” a traditional practice in which many men vie for the hand of a marriageable girl.
The Suitors of the Teenage Girl
According to the Guardian, for months, Marial Garang Jil and Chol Marol Deng, two 40-year-old men from South Sudan, who come from two different Dinka tribes in Jonglei state but now live abroad, competed to marry Athiak Dau Riak, a girl whose mother says is 14 years old.
Athiak’s father, Dau Riak Magany, says she is 19 years old and consented to the marriage, despite the fact that she was in the 8th grade of primary school (which children usually start at age 13) when negotiations for the marriage began in March of this year.
Her mother, Deborah Kuir Yach, who is now hiding for her safety as she opposes the marriage, says she has evidence that her daughter is 14 years old.
The case could remain a family dispute if photos and videos from the gatherings had not been posted online and quickly shared.
Athiak’s story and her suitors went viral—Athiak was praised for her height and beauty and as “the girl at the heart of a historic marriage competition” in reports across Africa.
The Suitor Who Became a Husband
After the ritual part of the marriage in June, when she was given as a wife to Chol Marol Deng, for a bride price of 123 cattle, 120 million South Sudanese pounds (about 39,400 euros) in cash, and a plot of land, she was described as “the most expensive bride in South Sudan” in TikTok videos that garnered thousands of likes.
“There is nothing wrong with this marriage,” her father said at the time. Garang Mayen Riak, Athiak’s cousin who traveled from Canada for the ceremony, agreed. “We are an educated family – we cannot force a girl to marry,” he said, expressing his commitment to Dinka traditions. “This marriage is unique, because such competitions rarely happen in our modern society. We are proud of it, as it reminds us who we are.”
Athiak Dau Riak and her new husband, Chol Marol Deng, at the end of the agam celebration
The Guardian
The 2008 Child Law States
The 2008 Child Law in South Sudan prohibits early and forced marriages, but according to Unicef, child marriages “remain a common practice” and “recent data shows that 52% of girls [in South Sudan] marry before they turn 18, with some girls marrying as young as 12.”
A report led by the University of Edinburgh on the “bride price” system in South Sudan states that “customary courts often accept menstruation as a criterion for marriage eligibility” and that early marriages are “a common practice… likely driven by families’ aspirations to obtain bride price for their daughters as soon as possible.”
Globally, 122 million girls marry while they are still children every year, according to another Unicef report. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, over a third of young women were married before the age of 18.
“A Classic Example of Pedophilia”
Despite child marriage being a common institution, Athiak’s case has captivated the country. In a frenzy of social media, people “campaigned” for their preferred suitor. Others promoted the marriage as a confirmation of “Dinka culture and identity,” rebuffing critics who condemned the process as “auctioning off a girl.”
However, online activity also drew the attention of a lawyer, Josephine Adhet Deng, who opened a case in June against Dau Riak Magany, claiming he allowed the marriage of a minor and seeking to have Athiak returned from Kenya, where she was taken shortly after the agam ceremony.
The questions surrounding Athiak’s age were fueled by a Facebook post from her maternal uncle, Daniel Yach, a Canadian citizen, who stated that “she is a minor” and condemned the proposed marriage as “a classic example of pedophilia.”
“I was very shocked because I hadn’t seen Athiak since I left for Canada in 2015,” he says in a phone interview. “At that time she was six years old. Then I saw the posts about the marriage and found out how tall she had become.
“But she is just a child. That little girl has been brainwashed. It’s the most insane thing that has ever happened.”
“She Had to Choose. She Had No Other Option”
When Chol Marol Deng was announced as the winning suitor on June 13 by a committee consisting of Athiak’s uncles and her father, they said it was “her choice.”
However, this did not convince Aluel Atem, a feminist activist from South Sudan. “She had to choose one of them. I don’t think there was an option for her not to choose one of those two men,” she says.
Atem describes the arrangement as “something close to a forced marriage,” although Athiak likely “is proud of the fact that the offers were so high for her bride price.”
“It is now a thing for these young girls in Sherikat,” she says. “The mentality is somewhat like this: the more a man pays, the more worthy you are. There is a status attached.”
Sarah Diew Biel, a protection officer at the South Sudanese development organization Nile Hope, says, “When you go against a thousand people saying ‘this marriage is okay,’ you become a traitor in the eyes of the community, with a khawaja [foreigner] mentality. It is mentally and emotionally exhausting.”
Biel works with other local organizations and social workers—as well as the police and the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare—to provide protection to survivors of gender-based violence in South Sudan, including using safe houses for girls fleeing forced marriages.
“The people of South Sudan are very proud of their culture and identity, and so am I, but there are cultural norms that do more harm than good,” she says.
The father of the bride, Dau Riak Magany (in blue), during the agam. He and his brothers, who announced the winning suitor, said Chol Marol Deng was “her choice.”
The Guardian
What the Bride’s Mother States
Athiak’s mother tried to stop the marriage. “I tried to tell the family that Athiak shouldn’t marry,” she says. “But everyone insisted.
They were looking for cattle. They saw that Athiak would bring them this great wealth. When I refused, they separated me from my daughter.”
On the day the decision was made that Athiak would marry Chol Marol Deng, “I tried to commit suicide,” she says. “And the next day, I decided to run away.”
Yach claims that Athiak’s birth certificate and ID were destroyed by other family members. “They secretly left with Athiak to get a new age estimation certificate, based on a fake birth date, in my absence,” she says.
A new passport states that Athiak was born in 2005, but Yach has an urgent travel document processed by South Sudan’s Ministry of Interior in August 2015 stating that Athiak was born in Juba on December 28, 2009.
Today, Yach is confined to the few square meters of the home where she is hiding, separated from her seven children and with her life on hold. “I don’t know who she is living with,” she says of Athiak.
Deborah Kuir Yach has gone into hiding after speaking out against and trying to block her daughter’s marriage
The Guardian
Lawyer Adhet Deng believes Athiak is now likely in Nairobi with Chol Marol Deng’s family, who has returned to Canada, where he is working.
Adhet Deng is waiting for the justice system to examine whether the case she filed can move forward, as it’s unclear with an already “sealed” customary marriage.
But she says there may be another way: “I have told the father and other family members that they should suspend this marriage, let Athiak return to school for at least five years, and then decide what she wants.”
Athiak has never spoken publicly about the controversy surrounding her marriage. But, on the eve of the agam celebration in June, she told the Guardian that if the marriage process had not started, she would have “preferred to study.”