Career
He was the leader of the Equatoria Defense Force, a militia, during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005). After the civil war ended, he was appointed Minister of Health, and then adviser to President Salva Kiir Mayardit. On 21 April 1997, as head of the Equatoria Defense Force, Theophilus Ochang signed the Khartoum Peace Agreement.
He agreed that he would fight under the coordinated command of Riek Machar.
The civil war formally ended in January 2005. In November 2005, a few weeks after being appointed Minister of Health of the Government of South Sudan, Theophilus Ochang attended a two day Program Review for Sudan"s Guinea worm eradication program at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America. In December 2006 he opened the first Program Review of the South Sudan Guinea Worm Eradication Program in Juba.
In February 2007 Theophilus welcomed former United States. President Jimmy Carter to Juba. During his Carter praised the Ministry of Health for their programs to eradicate Guinea worm and control trachoma.
In May 2007 the International Organization for Migration (IOM) organized a meeting between Doctor Theophilus Ochang, Minister of Health and Internally Displaced People (IDP) doctors and other health professionals in Khartoum who were considering returning home.
Theophilus described how badly medical skills were needed in the south, and added "this is not an undertaking of a few years. lieutenant is a job of a lifetime". Theophilus Ochang was relieved of his position as Minister of Health on 2 July 2007 and was appointed advisor to the President on Social Services.
In this position he had a direct reporting relationship to the president and was a dotted-line report to vice-president Riek Machar.
In May 2011, Theophilus Ochang was elected to the Advisory Council of the Horiok community of Torit County in Eastern Equatoria State. The purpose of the council is to coordinate community affairs in the Payams of Kudo, Himodonge, Iyire, Imurok and Ifwotu.
