South Sudan says the US visa ban caused by a wrong nationality

South Sudan criticizes the cancellation of US visas for all its citizens, stating that it is based on an incident with a citizen of a different African country.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Announce a visa ban on SaturdayReferring to South Sudan’s refusal to accept the return of its citizens to be removed from the United States.

But South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said that a person who was refused entry after being deported from the United States is a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He added that the individual was “returned to the country for sending for more processing.”

This is the first time the United States has targeted all passport holders from a particular country, as President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January after being a campaign for an anti -immigration platform, with the promise of “mass deportations”.

In its statement, Rubio said the United States would also block all arriving citizens of South Sudan, the world’s largest country, in the ports of entry into the United States.

He accused “the failure of the transitional government of South Sudan to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner.”

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

But in a statement on Monday, South Sudan Foreign Ministry said it “deeply regrets” about the blankets against all citizens of the country based on an “isolated incident involving a misconception by a person who is not a citizen of South Sudan.”

It says that the man at the center of the visa order is a Congoan citizen and he is returned to the United States. He added that all supporting evidence is shared with US officials.

But Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau Rejected South Sudan’s explanation as “legally no matter”Saying that the African Embassy in Washington “certified that particular individual as one of their citizens.”

“It is unacceptable and irresponsible for government officials in South Sudan to guess for the second determination of their own embassy,” Landau added.

South Sudan’s Minister of Information Michael Macue Loute told the AP news agency that the US is “trying to find mistakes in the tense situation” in the country, as no sovereign nation will accept foreign deported.

It comes when they are afraid that South Sudan can again descend into a civil war after the country’s first Vice President Riek Machar was placed under house arrest.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir accused Machar of breaking a new uprising.

Last month, the United States ordered all its employees not to be in South Sudan, to leave, as in a part of the country there was battles, threatening the fragile peaceful deal, agreed in 2018, which put an end to a five -year civil war.

Earlier in South Sudan, the United States received a temporary protective status (TPS), which allowed them to stay in the United States for a period of time.

TPS for South Sudan in the US had to expire by May 3.