“Ugandans, Congolese and South Sudanese nationals who were already in Canada when the federal government brought in Ebola virus-related travel restrictions for residents of those three countries have had their visas suspended,” reports the CBC. “The move does not kick them out of Canada, but it effectively bars them from international travel because they would be unable to return without a visa.” Ebola is spreading in the Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says it could suspend more than 24,000 travel documents as it seeks to keep residents of the three African countries out for a 90-day period,” “alongside quarantine requirements for Canadians and permanent residents returning from any of them. The bulk of those documents are linked to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda…there are about 12,600 DRC residents with Canadian travel documents, and 11,500 Ugandans….there were some 470 South Sudanese residents with valid immigration documents as of May 21.”…
The form letter that nationals of the three countries have begun to receive from Canada
starts by notifying them that their travel document has been suspended, “is no longer valid” and cannot be used at this time.
“You can no longer use it to travel to Canada or to transit through a Canadian airport,” the letter says.
Near the bottom of the letter, those who are currently in Canada are told the suspension of the document does not impact the amount of time they can stay here. “However, if you leave Canada, you will not be able to re-enter until the Order in Council is expired or revoked,” the letter says.
Heather Neufeld, an immigration lawyer based in Ottawa, told CBC News some of her clients who are in Canada on permits were confused by the wording of the message.
She said she had to explain to them that their permits are not cancelled, only their travel documents suspended.
South Sudanese nationals in Canada were unlikely to return to South Sudan in any event, because that country’s civil war seems to be resuming after a hiatus. South Sudan is an corrupt, oppressive, miserably poor place to live, despite its considerable oil wealth — it has 3.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. Under Obama, the U.N. and the U.S. embassy sat on their thumbs as South Sudan soldiers raped and tortured U.S. aid workers who were there to distribute relief supplies in South Sudan, one of the world’s most backward nations. South Sudan is the second most backward nation on Earth, according to the Human Development Index. The State Department tells Americans, “Do not travel to to South Sudan due to risk of unrest, crime, kidnapping, landmines, and health risks.”
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has been plagued by civil war for most of its short existence. The most numerous ethnic group in South Sudan — the Dinka — oppress other ethnic groups. The Dinka-controlled military kill members of the Nuer and other ethnic groups, and the Nuer sometimes kill the Dinka.
In the years immediately after South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011, its secession seemed like a dumb idea, because Sudan’s economy was growing, while South Sudan was experiencing sheer misery due to its own civil war, which peaked during 2013 to 2020, a bloody period in which South Sudan’s military massacred members of minority ethnic groups such as the Nuer, the Shilluk, the Moru, the Dongotonu, the Kuku, the Lotuko, and the Avukaya. The military faced a rebellion by members of South Sudan’s second largest ethnic group, the Nuer. Nuer militiamen killed members of South Sudan’s most populous ethnic group, the Dinka, who dominate its government.
South Sudan was created as a country due to pressure from the United States. “Under international pressure and in expectation of sanctions relief from the United States,” Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir allowed South Sudan to hold a referendum on whether to leave Sudan and become independent. “Secession won overwhelming support in the referendum that followed, leading to independence for South Sudan in 2011.”
But by 2013, South Sudan’s dictatorial president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, claimed that his Vice President Riek Machar had attempted a coup (the president is a member of the Dinka ethnic group, while the vice president is a member of the Nuer ethnic group). Vice President “Machar denied the charge and fled; soon fighting erupted between competing factions…Several abortive ceasefires followed,” until the civil war temporarily ended in 2020.
