Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: After agreeing to accept deportees from the United States last year, South Sudan sent a list of requests to Washington that included American support for the prosecution of an opposition leader and sanctions relief for a senior official accused of diverting over a billion dollars in public funds. South Sudan sought lifting of U.S.
sanctions against former Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel as well as Washington’s support for the prosecution of opposition leader Riek Machar, the now-suspended first vice president of South Sudan who faces treason, murder and other criminal charges in a controversial case, according to an AP report. South Sudan also asked for sanctions to be lifted over South Sudanese oil companies “to encourage direct foreign investments,” and for the U.S. to consider investing in other sectors including fossil fuels, minerals and agriculture.
The requests, contained in a pair of diplomatic communications made public by the State Department this month, offer a glimpse into the kind of benefits that some governments may have sought as they negotiated with the US over the matter of receiving deportees.
In the documents, the US expresses “appreciation” to South Sudan for accepting the deportees and details the names, nationalities and crimes for which each individual was convicted. In July, South Sudan became the first African country to receive third-country deportees from the U.S. Rwanda, Eswatini, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea have since received deportees. The eight deportees to South Sudan included nationals of Mexico, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan itself.
South Sudanese officials have not publicly said what long-term plan is in place for those still in custody. The third-country deportations were highly contentious, criticized by rights groups and others who expressed concern South Sudan would become a dumping ground.
In other cases, Human Rights Watch said it saw documents showing the U.S. agreed to pay Rwanda’s government around $7.5 million to take up to 250 deportees. The U.S. will give Eswatini $5.1 million to take up to 160 deportees, according to the group.