South Sudan claims U.S visa ban for all its citizens caused by mistaken identity of DR Congo national

South Sudan has criticised the revoking of US visas for all its nationals, saying it was based on an incident involving a citizen of a different African country.

US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced the visa ban on Saturday, citing South Sudan’s refusal to accept the return of its citizens being removed from the US.

But South Sudan’s foreign ministry said that a man who was refused entry after being deported from the US was a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to BBC.

It added that the individual was “returned to the sending country for further processing.”

This is the first time the US is targeting all passport holders from a particular country since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, having campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, with the promise of “mass deportations.”

In his statement, Rubio said that the US would also block any arriving citizens of South Sudan, the world’s newest country, at US ports of entry.

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

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

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But in a statement on Monday, South Sudan’s foreign ministry said it “deeply regrets” the blanket measure against all of the country’s citizens based on “an isolated incident involving misrepresentation by an individual who is not a South Sudanese national.”

It said the man at the centre of the visa row was a Congolese national and he was returned to the US. It added that all supporting evidence was shared with American officials.

But Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau dismissed South Sudan’s explanation as “legally irrelevant,” saying the African country’s embassy in Washington “certified this particular individual as one of their nationals.”

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

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