South Sudan says a US visa ban caused by misconduct

South Sudan criticized the abolition of US visas for all its citizens, saying it was based on an incident involving a citizen of another African country.

US Secretary of State Mark Rubio announced Visa Ban on SaturdayReferring to the refusal of South Sudan to accept the return of citizens withdrawn from the US.

But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Sudan said that a person who had refused to enter after deportation from the United States was a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It adds that the man was “returned to the country of sending for further processing.”

This is the first time the US focuses on all passport owners from a particular country, as President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, campaigning on the anti -migration platform with the promise of “mass deportations”.

In his statement, Rubio said the United States would also block any citizens arriving South Sudan, the world’s newest country, at the US entry ports.

He accused “the inability of the transition government of South Sudan to accept the return of his repatriate citizens on time.”

“We will be ready to review these actions if the South Sudan is in full cooperation,” he added.

But in its statement on Monday, the South Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “deeply regrets”, “a measure on all citizens of the country on the basis of” an isolated incident, which provides for the wrong representation of a person who is not a national South Sudan. “

It states that the man in the center of the visa was a national convoy and was returned to the United States. It adds that all auxiliary evidence was shared with US officials.

But Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau rejected the explanation of South Sudan as “legally insignificant”Saying that the African Embassy in Washington “certified this particular person as one of their citizens.”

“It is unacceptable and irresponsibly for government officials of South Sudan to guess the definition of their own embassy,” Landau added.

South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makuay Luet said the United States “tried to find shortcomings in a tense situation” as no sovereign nation accepted foreign deported.

This happens when fears are growing that South Sudan could go down to civil war again after the first vice president in the country was housed under house arrest.

Southern Sudan President Salva Kir accused Machara of destroying the new uprising.

Last month, the United States ordered all its employees who did not enter the South Sudan when the struggle broke out in one part of the country, threatening the delicate peace deal agreed in 2018, which ended with a five -year civil war.

The South Sudan in the US was previously provided with a temporary protected status (TPS) that allowed them to remain in the US for a period of time.

The TPS for South Sudan in the US was to end by May 3.