The decision comes at a time when political tensions are heading in southern Sudan, causing fears of a renewed civil war.
Foreign Minister Marco Rubio says that Washington isolates all visas that passports hold in southern Sudanese, accusing the African state government of not accepting the return of its citizens and “benefiting from the United States.”
“Every country must accept the return of its citizens in time when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove it,” Rubio said in a statement on Saturday. “The transitional government in South Sudan failed to respect this entire principle.”
Rubio added that the United States “will prevent further issuance to prevent entry to the United States by passport holders in South Sudan.”
This was the first such action to secrete all passports holders from a particular country since President Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, after he carried a campaign to combat immigration.
South Sudan citizens were granted the “temporary protected situation” (TPS) by the Trump Joe Biden Administration, with the expiration of the appointment on May 3 this year.
The United States, which protects people against deportation, gives foreign citizens who cannot return safely to their homes due to war, natural disasters, or other “unusual” conditions.
Rubio said Washington “will be ready to review these measures when South Sudan is in full cooperation.”
South Sudan violence
The last violence between government forces and armed opposition groups has escalated in southern Sudan. Some observers are afraid to renew the civil war that killed 400,000 people between 2013 and 2018.
Last week, UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres urged regional and international leaders to prevent South Sudan from falling “to the abyss” to another Civil war.
Guterres warned that the latest and most poorest of her countries face a “security emergency” with extensive clashes and “political turmoil”.
The growing tensions between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Rick Maher The latter’s arrest last month. His party said that the arrest collapsed in a peace agreement for the year 2018 to exchange power, which ended years of fighting.
The United Nations reported clashes between forces loyal to Kiir and machines outside the capital, Juba.
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