US announces evacuation of citizens from South Sudan amid coronavirus crisis
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (Photo: US )
April 1, 2020 (SSNN) – The United States government has announced that it has successfully evacuated an unidentified number of its citizens from South Sudan via Juba International Airport amid the coronavirus crisis.
Last week, South Sudan government said an agreement was reached between the government and the United States to allow flights at Juba International Airport for the US government to evacuate their citizens in Ethiopia.
South Sudan’s High-Level Taskforce to fight the coronavirus had imposed several preventive measures against the pandemic including but not limited to the closure of Juba International Airport as well as other international airports across the country.
“The United States Embassy in Juba would like to express our appreciation to the Government of South Sudan for its assistance facilitating the departure of citizens of the United States and other countries on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Saturday, March 28,” the US embassy in Juba said in a statement on Monday.
“While there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Sudan, the United States Department of State issued a worldwide Health Advisory on March 19th advising U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19,” the statement said.
“The U.S. Embassy in Juba has reduced its staffing and is assessing the feasibility of certain programming at this time, but we retain sufficient staff to perform our core tasks of bilateral engagement, development and humanitarian assistance, and support for U.S. citizens in South Sudan.
“We remain engaged with the Government of South Sudan in support of other measures that are being taken to reduce the threat of COVID-19. The United States has recently announced $8 million in assistance for COVID-19 preparedness for South Sudan to provide health-related support and supplies.”
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