South Sudanese officials said Tuesday that they will allow a foreign national entry into the country after their initial refusal to do so prompted the United States to revoke the visas of all its citizens.
Congolese national Makula Kintu will be accepted into the country “in the spirit of maintaining friendly relations” between South Sudan and the U.S., said foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Apuk Ayuel Mayen.
Last Friday, officials refused entry to Kintu, who had been deported from the United States, saying he illegally used the travel documents of a South Sudanese national, Nimeri Garang.
The following day, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. would revoke all visas for South Sudanese citizens because the country had failed to accept the return of its citizens deported from the United States “in a timely manner.”
On Monday, South Sudanese officials decried the move as unfair, saying Kintu’s case was an isolated one and it had cooperated with all other deportation cases.
The U.S had said it was “prepared to review" the decision to revoke all visas "when South Sudan is in full cooperation.”
Edmund Yakani, executive director for the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, a local advocacy group, applauded the South Sudanese government's decision to allow Kintu into the country.
“The issues associated with the identity of the deportee should be handled legally without harming the South Sudanese in totality,” Yakani told The Associated Press.
South Sudan’s political landscape is fragile and recent violence between government troops and armed opposition groups has escalated tensions.
Last week, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged regional and international leaders to prevent South Sudan from falling “over the abyss” into another civil war.
