South Sudan to expel Eritrean and Ethiopian migrants

South Sudan’s immigration body says it will deport more than 20 foreign nationals, mainly Eritreans and Ethiopians, who entered the country illegally. (BBC)

They were arrested on arrival at Juba International Airport a few days ago and were said to have entered the country without passports or travel documents, local media reported.

The migrants had come from Sudan’s capital Khartoum to seek refuge in South Sudan, and had boarded local flights to Juba from Bentiu and Paloch towns in northern South Sudan, an immigration official said.

Lt Gen Atem Marol Biar, the head of immigration at the interior ministry, said they would be deported to where they came from. He said they were arrested as they had neither travelling documents nor did they have connections with any organisation operating in South Sudan.

“We cannot continue receiving people who don’t have documents from different countries. It will put our country at risk because we don’t know the reason why they don’t have travel documents,” local newspaper The Dawn quoted Lt Gen Biar as saying.

Local outlets said they were being detained at Kololo, a special immigration facility in Juba for foreign nationals, pending their deportation.

South Sudan is a destination for many migrants who come to do business in the oil-producing East African nation. But it finds it difficult to control the influx of illegal migrants due to its porous borders.

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