US revokes all South Sudan visas over failure to accept repatriation of citizens

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. said on Saturday it would revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders over that country’s failure of to accept the return of repatriated citizens.

South Sudan had failed to respect the principle that  every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the U.S., seeks to remove them, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.  

“Effective immediately, the United States Department of State is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and prevent further issuance to prevent entry into the United States by South Sudanese passport holders,” Rubio said.

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