South Sudan responds to US ban on visas, says deportee was Congolese
The government of South Sudan has protested the drastic action taken by the US to revoke visas held by its citizens, saying the deportee at the centre of the row, whom Juba denied entry, is Congolese.
Juba has questioned the sweeping visa ban, announced on April 5, which Washington said was prompted by “failure of South Sudan’s Transitional Government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner.”
South Sudan’s Foreign Affairs ministry said in a statement that the deportee denied entry by South Sudanese authorities was from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who said in an immigration interview at the Juba airport that he had been sent there against his will.
“In accordance with our immigration protocols, we returned him to the sending country for further processing,” the ministry spokesperson, Apuk Ayuel Mayen, said.
According to the ministry, an individual arrived at Juba International Airport on April 5 and April 6, presenting a South Sudanese Travel Document under the name Nimeri Garang.
Upon investigation, South Sudanese authorities determined the individual was Makula Kintu, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), born April 2, 1977.
The ministry said that “comprehensive verification processes” confirmed his Congolese nationality.
Mr Kintu himself reportedly stated during his immigration interview that he is from the Ema tribe in Congo’s North Kivu Province.
The ministry noted that its embassy in Washington had processed emergency travel documents for 21 of the 23 individuals recently flagged by US authorities for deportation. The two exceptions included Mr Kintu and another individual later identified as Sudanese.
“The government deeply regrets that, despite its longstanding cooperation and partnership with US authorities, South Sudan now faces widespread visa revocations due to an isolated case of misrepresentation by a non-South Sudanese national,” the ministry stated.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of State, said a visa and entry ban for South Sudanese citizens would go into immediate effect and would be reviewed once South Sudan, in the US government’s eyes, began cooperating again.
President Donald Trump's administration has taken aggressive measures to increase immigration enforcement, including the repatriation of people deemed to be in the US illegally.