About 20 citizens of the United States have been blocked by authorities from evacuating from South Sudan.
The American nationals were seeking to board an aircraft chartered by the United States government to bring their citizens to safety after four days of violence in the South Sudanese capital in which more than 600 people were killed.
Ethnically white citizens and others were allowed to board but people who are ethnically South Sudanese with joint US-South Sudanese citizenship were blocked.
This was witnessed by an Associated Press journalist at the airport in the capital Juba. He reported that the incident took place in spite of the presence of US Embassy staff.
State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau confirmed the incident. She pointed out that on 14 July the embassy in Juba had sent an advisory to US citizens warning them that authorities were “scrutinizing the travel documents of dual nationals… particularly of male dual nationals.”
Amnesty International said it had received reports from two charter airline companies that “National Security Service officers have ordered them not to carry South Sudanese nationals, particularly men.”
Other South Sudanese trying to flee the country by road have reported being turned back from the border. Radio Tamazuj reported on Wednesday that customs officers at the Nimule crossing were ordered to prevent citizens from leaving for refugee camps in northern Uganda.