The and have been embroiled in a diplomatic spat since Juba refused to admit a man deported from the US last week, saying that he was actually a Congolese citizen using the travel documents of a South Sudanese national.
Following the refusal, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused South Sudan of “taking advantage of the United States.” In a statement, Rubio said that, “Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner” when the US seeks to remove them.
As South Sudan’s transitional government “has failed to fully respect this principle, effective immediately, the United States Department of State is taking actions to ,” the statement continued.
Rubio added that the measures would be reviewed “when South Sudan is in full cooperation.”
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his opponent Vice President Riek Machar formed the in 2020, which is now on the verge of collapse. The country’s political crisis has recently escalated into .
The US government’s action has raised concerns because many South Sudanese passport holders had been granted temporary protection status (TPS) by Washington due to .
TPS shields people from deportation and is granted to foreign nationals who cannot safely return home due to war, natural disaster or other “extraordinary” conditions.
“This move marks a formal abandonment of the humanitarian principles that have long set the United States apart from others, signaling a renunciation of the values that have historically supported the vulnerable in times of crisis,” Khaled Mahmoud, Egyptian writer and journalist wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Abiola Lual Deng, an international relations analyst and visiting fellow at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, told DW that South Sudan “has not done anything wrong.”
“It is senseless to target a poor country over one person,” Deng added, suggesting that smaller nations, like South Sudan, may struggle to resist US pressure, noting that the US has taken a hard stance even with its closest allies, such as and .
“What is going on is not normal. There is a sense of disbelief at the speed at which the US norms are being dismantled,” Deng said.
‘Isolated case’
South Sudanese officials decried Washington’s move as unfair, saying the case was an isolated one and they had cooperated with all other deportation cases.
On Monday, following his arrival at Juba Interenational Airport, authorities determined that he was actually a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a statement by South Sudanese foreign affairs spokesperson Apuk Ayel Mayen.
On Tuesday, authorities in Juba announced that they would accept the Congolese national into the country after their initial refusal.
“In the spirit of the existing friendly relations between South Sudan and the United States, the government of South Sudan has decided to grant Mr Makula Kintu permission to enter the country,” Mayen said.
Kintu reportedly arrived in Juba on Wednesday, however South Sudan has not said whether it will keep him in the country or deport him to Congo.
Washington has not indicated whether it will reverse its decision to “revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and prevent further issuance to prevent entry into the United States by South Sudanese passport holders.”
Who could be affected by visa and travel restrictions on South Sudan?
In addition to more than 100 South Sudanese people in the United States under the TPS program, hundreds of track and field athletes, basketball players and fashion models may be impacted if the US measures are not reversed.
A number of players in the South Sudan basketball team who performed strongly at the are understood to be studying in the US and playing for US college teams.
Two North Carolina Democrats have written to Rubio, urging him to reverse the order in support of a Duke University men’s basketball player.
“The South Sudanese visa holders in the United States are not foreign enemies, nor are they responsible for any disagreement you and President Trump may have with the transitional government of South Sudan,” representatives Deborah Ross and Valerie Foushee wrote in a letter to Rubio.
“These are members of our communities, students pursuing an education, athletes hoping to compete at the highest levels, workers contributing to our economy, and families who sought safety and refuge in our country,” Ross and Foushee continued.
North Carolina is home to a significant South Sudanese community, including thousands of young men, known as the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” who were driven from their homes amid a 1980s civil war.
Edited by: Keith Walker
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