JUBA: The United States is terminating South Sudan’s designation for temporary protected status, which for years allowed people from the East African country to remain in the US legally and escape armed conflict back home.
The termination will be effective Jan. 5, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
“After conferring with interagency partners, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that conditions in South Sudan no longer meet the TPS statutory requirements,” the statement said.
It added that South Sudanese nationals who use the Customs and Border Protection mobile app to report their departure could receive “a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.”
The new policy is a blow to people from South Sudan, a nation that remains politically unstable and the source of many refugees seeking shelter abroad.
Edmund Yakani, a prominent civic leader in South Sudan, said the decision may be “a clear demonstration that South Sudan is no longer cooperating with the US on matters of deportation of foreign nationals.”
“South Sudan has not accepted a second phase of US deportees to South Sudan and this has angered the Trump administration (and) the Trump administration has reached this decision now, where it is ending protections available for South Sudanese who fled the war,” he said.
At least eight men were deported to South Sudan from the US earlier in the year, as part of a program to deport unwanted migrants to third countries.
South Sudan has been designated for temporary protected status since 2011, when it became independent from Sudan. The designation is renewed in 18-month increments.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the United States and work legally, including ending temporary status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians who were granted protection under President Joe Biden.
South Sudan’s embattled government struggles to deliver many of the basic services of a state. Years of conflict have left the country heavily reliant on aid, which has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts in foreign assistance. Many South Sudanese face hunger, and this week a hunger monitor said parts of conflict-hit South Sudan were heading toward famine conditions.
A peace deal to end fighting between rival forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and to his erstwhile deputy Riek Machar, has been in force since 2018, but observers say it is slowly unraveling after the arrest earlier this year of Machar on criminal charges.
Kiir said he suspended Machar as his first vice president so that his deputy could face charges including treason.
People from South Sudan will lose temporary US legal status
https://arab.news/99hkt
People from South Sudan will lose temporary US legal status
- “Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that conditions in South Sudan no longer meet the TPS statutory requirements,” the statement said
- The new policy is a blow to people from South Sudan
Thailand-Cambodia fighting rages on as Trump signals intent to intervene
- Clashes raged at more than a dozen locations along their 817-km border
- “I hate to say this one, named Cambodia-Thailand, and it started up today, and tomorrow I am going to have to make a phone call,” Trump said
BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH: Thailand and Cambodia traded accusations of targeting civilians in artillery and rocket attacks on Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump said he would try to intervene to stop the fighting and salvage a ceasefire he brokered earlier this year.
Clashes raged at more than a dozen locations along their 817-km (508-mile) border in some of the most intense fighting since a five-day battle in July, which Trump stopped with calls to both leaders to halt their worst conflict in recent history.
The Southeast Asian neighbors have blamed each other for the clashes that started on Monday.
’IT CANNOT BE AS SIMPLE AS PICKING UP THE PHONE’
Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania late on Tuesday said he would try to stop the renewed hostilities, after enumerating the conflicts he said he had helped stop, such as those between Pakistan and India, and Israel and Iran.
“I hate to say this one, named Cambodia-Thailand, and it started up today, and tomorrow I am going to have to make a phone call,” he said.
“Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war of two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia?’“
Thailand’s army has made clear it wants to cripple Cambodia’s military capabilities and Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Tuesday said operations would not stop.
He declined to comment on Wednesday on what the military’s end-game was. Asked about Trump’s remarks, he said the conflict was a matter between the two countries involved.
“Other national leaders may have good intentions in wanting peace,” Anutin told reporters. “It cannot be as simple as picking up the phone and calling. There must be proper appointment and agreed talking points. We still have time to prepare these issues if such discussions are to take place.”
Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona said Phnom Penh’s position was that it wanted only peace and had acted in self-defense. A top adviser to Cambodia’s prime minister has signalled the country was ready to negotiate.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who helped Trump broker the ceasefire, said he had spoken with leaders of Thailand and Cambodia on Tuesday and, though no definitive resolution was reached, he appreciated “the openness and willingness of both leaders to continue negotiations in order to ease tensions.”
ROCKETS, JETS AND DRONE-BOMBS
Thailand’s army said fighting took place on 16 different fronts on Wednesday, including both ends of the border. It reported an onslaught of BM-21 rockets fired by Cambodian forces, some of which it said landed near a hospital in Surin province, forcing the evacuation of patients and staff.
The army said Cambodian drones were being used to drop bombs and BM-21 rockets, and tanks were used at other border areas, including near the contested 11th Century Preah Vihear temple, a flashpoint for previous diplomatic and military conflicts.
Cambodia’s military said Thailand used artillery fire and armed drones and fired mortars into homes, while F-16 fighter jets had entered Cambodian airspace on multiple occasions, some dropping bombs near civilian areas.
“Cambodian forces have been fighting fiercely against the advancing enemy and have stood firm in their role of protecting Cambodia’s territorial integrity,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
In July, Trump used the leverage of trade negotiations to broker a ceasefire. Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Tuesday told Reuters that tariff threats should not be used to pressure his country into talks.
Last month, Thailand suspended de-escalation measures, agreed at an October summit in Trump’s presence, after a Thai soldier was maimed by a land mine that Bangkok said was newly laid by Cambodia, which rejects the accusation.
HEAVY TOLL ON CIVILIANS
The three days of clashes have taken a heavy toll on civilians, with nine people killed in Cambodia, including an infant, and 46 people wounded, according to its government. Five Thai soldiers had been killed in the fighting and 68 people were wounded, the Thai army said.
On Wednesday, Cambodia withdrew its athletes from the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, citing safety reasons and their families’ concern.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from border areas, though some people have chosen not to leave.
“I have to stay behind,” said Wuttikrai Chimngarm, as he hunkered down behind a makeshift bunker of tires stacked six high while shelling shook Thailand’s border province of Buriram.
“I’m the head of the village, if not me, then who? Who will be safeguarding the houses and belongings of the villagers from looters?“
As soon as Monday’s fighting erupted, residents fled the disputed village of Kaun Kriel, about 25 km (15 miles) northwest of Cambodia’s city of Samraong.
“This is my second run because the place I live ... was under attack both times,” said Cambodian Marng Sarun, a 31-year-old harvester, who left with his wife and two children.
