Days after Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi acknowledged Kenya's growing challenges with the influx of refugees from the neighbouring South Sudan, the US took a significant step that could exacerbate Kenya's refugee crisis.
On Sunday morning, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a sweeping measure that could have serious implications for Kenya's refugee management.
Rubio revealed that the US would revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and impose restrictions on the issuance of any new visas to South Sudanese nationals.
According to Rubio, his government has decided so due to the failure of South Sudan's transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens on time.
''I am taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and to restrict any further issuance to prevent entry into the United States, effective immediately, due to the failure of South Sudan's transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens on time,'' Rubio stated.
As of January 2025, Kenya had approximately 151,087 South Sudanese refugees. The majority of these refugees reside in the Kakuma and Dadaab camps, with Kakuma alone accommodating around 148,000 South Sudanese refugees, according to official data.
Additionally, Kenya continues to receive an average of 20 South Sudanese refugees daily, further increasing the refugee population.
On April 2, Mudavadi acknowledged that the situation in South Sudan had seen Kenya experience an influx in the number of refugees from the world's youngest nation.
''The situation in South Sudan is getting worse. We are beginning to see another inflow of refugees in Kenya at the rate of about 20 refugees per day,'' Mudavadi revealed.
Kenya's strategic location and its well-connected international airport in Nairobi make it a common layover point for flights from South Sudan to the US; therefore, the revocation of visas held by South Sudanese passport holders may impact the revenue system between the two nations.
South Sudan currently operates under a transitional government that is seeking to avoid an all-out civil war in the Central African nation. It was not clear how many South Sudanese citizens in the US Rubio's announcement affected.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of May 31, 2024, the refugee and asylum-seeker population in Kenya stood at 774,370 persons, which comprised 561,060 (72 per cent) refugees and 213,310 (28 per cent) asylum-seekers.
Meanwhile, Kenya is currently involved in the peace process in the youngest nation, after President William Ruto appointed former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as Kenya’s special envoy to South Sudan following the detention of the country’s first Vice President, Riek Machar.
Odinga joined a team of specialised police officers sent by the National Police Service (NPS) as peace envoys to the war-torn nation.
