Adds further details from South Sudan Ministry of Interior on new conditions for Sudanese in South Sudan.
April 10, 2012 (JUBA) – South Sudan on Tuesday said it would respect and implement decision by the neighbouring Sudan in which it has declared all South Sudanese nationals in her territory as foreigners from 9 April.
A South Sudanese arrives to register for a passport or a temporary travel document at the South Sudanese Embassy in Khartoum April 9, 2012 (Reuters)After South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July 2011 southern Sudanese remaining in the north were granted a nine month grace period move south of the new international border or register as a non-domiciled workers.
South Sudan’s minister of interior, General Alison Manani Magaya, described the decision taken by Khartoum as unilateral. However, he said that South Sudan would now have to respond in kind and give Sudanese nationals in South Sudan the same status.
Citizenship is just one of many issues being negotiated by the two countries in Addis Ababa under African Union mediation. The issue of citizenship has been a contentious item in the post-independence negotiations between north and south Sudan. Khartoum rejected any talk of dual citizenship and insisted that all 500,000 southerners in the north should make arrangements to adjust their status or migrate to South Sudan.
Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir was due in Juba on 3 April to sign a “four freedoms” deal with his counter part Salva Kiir. However, clashes on the tense north-south border led Khartoum to cancel the Presidential summit. Khartoum have since indicated that specific security arrangements must be met before a deal is signed.
“There was no agreement between the two countries on the status of the citizens for Sudan to declare South Sudanese as foreigners. This was their decision”, he said calling on South Sudanese national in the republic of Sudan to comply with travel and migration requirements.
On Monday 9 April Sudanese authorities at Khartoum airport prevented around 200 Southern Sudanese from boarding their planes saying they can only do so now using travel documents issued by Juba. The flight to Juba was symbolically moved from the domestic to international terminal.
“I would like our people in Sudan to exercise calm and sense of responsibility once asked by the Sudanese authorities to identify them. They should comply and behave the same way they do at Kenya and Uganda airport at arrival or when they are leaving”, Magaya told the journalists.
The South Sudanese embassy in Khartoum says that it will take up to two days to process applications for a new passport.
South Sudan’s interior minister also issued the following measures on the status of northerners;
All national of the Republic of Sudan are declared foreigners as of 9 April, 2012
Sudanese nationals who are currently living in the Republic of South Sudan shall be registered and provided with temporary stay documents free
All Sudanese nationals are given time to correct their immigration status according to the laws governing the presence of foreigners in the country
All Sudanese nationals entering the Republic of South Sudan by land, air, river or railway are to produce entry visas
A team from the Directorate of Immigration and Passports is located in South Sudan embassy in Khartoum to enable the South Sudanese students, returnees, NGOs and UN staff, and those working in the private sector to obtain immigration documents and
Sudanese nationals will be accorded fair treatment and full respect in regard to their human rights.
