South Sudan accepts US deportee
South Sudan has confirmed that they will accept the deportation of a Congolese national from the US.
According to AP on April 8th, South Sudan initially rejected the deportation prompting the US to revoke visas for all of their citizens.
However, Congolese national Makula Kintu has now been accepted into South Sudan “in the spirit of maintaining friendly relations” according to Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Apuk Ayuel Mayen.
After Kintu was denied entry at the South Sudanese border due to the fact that officials claimed he had illegally used the travel documents of a South Sudanese national named Nimeri Garang.
Following the rejection, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked visas for all South Sudanese citizens due to the fact that the country had failed to accept deported citizens “in a timely manner”.
Former US President Joe Bide had previously allowed a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudanese nationals, a designation that is due to expire on May 3rd that protects citizens from deportations due to ongoing instability in the country.
South Sudan had initially protested the decision, branding it “unfair” due to the fact that the Kintu deportation case was an isolated incident and they had previously cooperated on all other deportation cases.
The US defended their actions claiming they were ‘prepared to review” the decision to revoke all visas “when South Sudan is in full cooperation.”
An executive director for the Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation, Edmund Yakani said: “The issues associated with the identity of the deportee should be handled without harming the South Sudanese in totality.”
South Sudan lies on the edge of another civil war after Vice President Riek Machar was arrested by President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s party earlier this year.
The two men signed a government of ‘national unity” at the end of the previous civil war in 2018 however political turmoil and conflict across the country now leave the country in a dangerous position.
AP, Maghrebi
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