South Sudan says no deportation deal with U.S on third country nationals
By Denis Ejulu
The South Sudanese foreign ministry on Thursday said it has no deal in place to receive third country nationals deported from the United States.
The spokesperson of the foreign ministry, Apuk Ayuel Mayen disclosed that the country was able to receive seven third country nationals and a South Sudanese national on July 5, based on bilateral engagement with the Trump administration.
“There are no discussions on that (deportations), and there is no deal that has been signed in regards to that, there was bilateral engagement around deporting the seven deportees between our government and the government of the United States,” Mayen told journalists in Juba.
Her remarks come in the aftermath of claims that Juba, had struck a deal with the Trump administration similar to neighboring Uganda and Rwanda, which have agreed to take in deportees from the U.S.
The third country nationals deported to South Sudan include two people from Myanmar, two from Cuba and one each from Vietnam, Laos and Mexico.
In addition, Mayen revealed that the 23 South Sudanese that were earlier on deported from the U.S have been reunited with their family members.
Meanwhile, Philip Jada Natana, director general for bilateral relations in the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation dismissed claims that the country had signed MoU with Israel to resettle Palestinians displaced in the ongoing war with the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza.
He assured that the visit by the Israel deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel on Aug.13 did not culminate into discussions to resettle Palestinians in South Sudan.
“So even just using common sense you know Palestinians will never accept to be brought to South Sudan of all other countries. I know this has been a story that has been going on and many people believe in it,” Jada said.
Jada said that the two countries signed MoU which covers areas of capacity building, cooperation in terms of investment and mineral exploitation.
