A look at South Sudan, where the US is accused of quietly sending migrants

The United States once cheered the creation of South Sudan as an independent nation Now the U S is being required to explain why it appears to be deporting newcomers from as far away as Vietnam to a chaotic country that s once again in danger of collapsing into civil war A U S judge ordered Trump administration agents to appear at an urgency hearing Wednesday to answer questions If the deportations are endorsed that means people from Vietnam Cuba and elsewhere are being sent to a nation they have no link to thousands of miles from where they want to be Vietnam s list of its embassies in Africa shows the closest one to South Sudan is in Tanzania over miles away South Sudan s police spokesperson Maj Gen James Monday Enoka communicated The Associated Press on Wednesday that no displaced persons had arrived in the country and that if they do they would be investigated and again redeported to their correct country if discovered not to be South Sudanese In recent times the Trump administration abruptly revoked the visas of all South Sudanese saying the country s governing body failed to accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner South Sudan pushed back saying the person in question was Congolese but later noted it would allow him into the country in the spirit of maintaining friendly relations with the U S South Sudan s administration has struggled since independence from Sudan in to deliver a great number of of the basic services of a state Years of conflict have left the country heavily reliant on aid that has been hit hard by another Trump administration decision sweeping cuts in foreign assistance Here s a look at South Sudan whose own people had been granted U S temporary protected status because of insecurity at home A deadly divide The euphoria of independence turned to civil war two years later when rival factions backing President Salva Kiir and deputy Riek Machar opened fire on each other in South Sudan s capital Juba in The two men s tensions have been so much at the heart of the country s insecurity that the late Pope Francis once took the extraordinary step of kneeling to kiss their feet in a plea for lasting peace Five years of civil war killed hundreds of thousands of people A peace deal reached in has been fragile and not fully implemented to the frustration of the U S and other international backers South Sudan still hasn t held a long-delayed presidential polling and Kiir remains in power His rivalry with Machar is compounded by ethnic divisions Machar has long regarded himself as destined for the presidency citing a prophecy years ago by a seer from his ethnic group Earlier this year the threat of war returned Machar was arrested and allies in the regime and military were detained following a major escalation that included airstrikes and an attack on a United Nations helicopter Machar s opposition party revealed South Sudan s peace deal was effectively over Let s not mince words What we are seeing is darkly reminiscent of the and civil wars which killed people U N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Various Western countries have closed their embassies there while others including the U S have reduced embassy staff The U S Embassy s tour warning commented that violent crime such as carjackings shootings ambushes assaults robberies and kidnappings are common throughout South Sudan including Juba A country in disarray The Trump administration s pressure on South Sudan to take in deportees including foreign ones is in sharp contrast to Washington s past warm embrace as its rebel leaders including Kiir and Machar fought for independence Now there is less aid than ever for bulk of South Sudan s over million people because of the cuts in U S aid Environment shocks including flooding have long caused mass displacement and closed schools South Sudan s healthcare and development systems were already among the weakest in the world Aid organizations had offered essential help South Sudan s executive has long relied on oil production but little money from that is seen in part because of official corruption Conflict in neighboring Sudan has affected landlocked South Sudan s oil exports Civil servants at times go months without being paid How South Sudan is equipped to handle transients arriving abruptly from the U S is yet to be seen Source