The government of South Sudan has officially apologized to the United States and dispatched senior officials to Washington over the deportation dispute that escalated to a blanket visa ban.

The office of the powerful vice president, Dr Benjamin Bol Mel said in a statement on Easter Sunday that the delegation will include the Minister of Finance, Marial Dongrin Ater and the Central Bank Governor, Johnny Ohisa Damian.

“The Government of the Republic of South Sudan announces that it will dispatch a high-level delegation to Washington, D.C. in the coming days to engage directly with officials from the United States Government on the urgent matter of repatriating approximately 137 South Sudanese nationals currently subject to deportation orders from the United States,” said part of the statement.

Adding: :The South Sudanese delegation will be led by Hon. Marial Dongrin ATER, Minister of Finance and Planning, Hon. Johnny Ohisa DAMIAN, Governor of the Bank of South Sudan and Mr. Elia Kosta FAUSTINO, Director General of the Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passport and Immigration (DCRNPI). 

This delegation is expected to work in close coordination with the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate an “orderly, legal, and dignified return process” of the over 100 South Sudan deportees 

“The Government of the Republic of South Sudan takes full responsibility for addressing this matter with the seriousness and urgency it deserves. Hence, the incident involving Mr. Kintu Makula/Nemeri Garang was regrettable and isolated, and internal measures have since been taken to prevent recurrence of such regrettable incidents,” said the statement.

Mr. Kintu was denied entry into South Sudan twice after it was established from Juba International Airport that he is a Democratic Republic of Congo national.

The incident infuriated Washington, resulting in the blanket cancelation of all active visas for South Sudanese passport holders and a ban on issuing new ones.
Juba has now apologized for the incident and promised it would not be repeated.

By ChimpReports