South Sudan has reversed its decision to deny entry to a man it said was a Congolese national deported by the United States after Washington imposed a blanket visa ban on South Sudanese citizens.
In a dramatic U-turn on Tuesday, South Sudan’s foreign ministry said the government had chosen to admit the deportee, identified as Makula Kintu, “in the spirit of the friendly relations between South Sudan and the United States.”
US President Donald Trump has heavily cracked down on immigration since his return to power in January and has launched a series of deportation actions in recent months.
On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that visas held by South Sudanese citizens were being revoked and no new visas would be granted to people from the country over their government’s failure to receive deportees “in a timely manner.”
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation and one of its poorest is already troubled by armed conflict in its northern region that threatens to plunge it back into another civil war.
On Monday, the South Sudanese foreign ministry clarified that Kintu arrived at the Juba International Airport in the country’s capital on Saturday with a travel document that was not his.
According to the ministry, he presented “a South Sudanese travel document under the name Nimeri Garang” to immigration officials.
However, a series of verifications revealed that he was not Garang and instead identified him as Kintu — a citizen of the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“He (Kintu) was not admitted (into South Sudan) and was subsequently returned to the sending country (the US) for further processing,” it added.
The ministry explained it was awaiting the arrival of the actual Garang, whom it said the South Sudanese embassy in Washington had been notified by the US State Department of his deportation and scheduled arrival in Juba next month.
US authorities are yet to comment on the nationality discrepancy.
The South Sudanese foreign ministry cited information on Kintu’s travel history supplied by the US Department of Homeland Security which stated that he initially arrived in the US in 2003 “and voluntarily departed for the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009.”
It added that Kintu “re-entered the United States illegally on July 10, 2016” and that while he was being questioned Saturday by immigration officials at the Juba airport, Kintu “stated that he hails from the Ema tribe of the Northern Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo and added that he was brought to South Sudan against his will.”
In its latest communication Tuesday, the ministry noted that Kintu would nonetheless be allowed to enter South Sudan when he arrives again on Wednesday.
“The Government of the Republic of South Sudan remains committed to supporting the return of verified South Sudanese nationals who are scheduled for deportation from the United States,” the foreign ministry said.