By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13, 2024 – The U.S. State Department today announced “steps to impose visa restrictions on multiple individuals in South Sudan for undermining or impeding a sustainable peace by engaging in corruption that fuels conflict in South Sudan.”
“Under Section 212(a)(3)C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, these individuals will be generally ineligible for visas to the United States. Certain family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Miller added, “These visa restrictions are specific to certain individuals and are not directed at the South Sudanese people or the Government of South Sudan. The decision to pursue visa restrictions reflects the commitment of the United States to support South Sudanese aspirations to combat corruption, strengthen democracy and the rule of law, and live in peace.”
Noting that nearly 13 years after declaring its independence, South Sudan “remains a precariously fragile state beset by insecurity and poverty,” Miller added, “The nation’s leaders continually fail to exhibit the political will necessary to create the conditions for sustainable peace, democratic governance, the rule of law, and prosperity for the South Sudanese people. They have yet to demonstrate the political will to establish an environment conducive to free and fair elections taking place, as scheduled, in December 2024.”
Miller said the leaders “of all parties share responsibility for this failure and for the elite capture of the nation’s riches, at the expense of the country’s peace and the general wellbeing.”
“Widespread corruption perpetuates the suffering and, directly and indirectly, supports conflict, thereby undermining the progress South Sudanese envisioned when they declared statehood,” Miller said. “The United States remains committed to supporting the South Sudanese peoples’ long unmet expectations for peace, democracy, human rights, and a government that uses public resources for the common good.”
