South Sudan’s Embassy in Kenya has urged its citizens to stay “calm” and exercise their “usual vigilance” during next week’s elections in Kenya.

Kenya heads to the polls on August 8. The race for Kenya's presidency is between Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga as well as other contestants.

“South Sudanese nationals should move freely. There is no any problem, so whoever wants to travel to South Sudan can travel without any problem,” said South Sudan’s Deputy Ambassador to Kenya, Jimmy Deng Makuac.

He pointed out that the embassy will be monitoring the situation in Kenya during the polls next week. The South Sudanese diplomat revealed that they are also in contact with the government of Kenya over recent messages on social media calling for deportation of South Sudanese citizens who are residing in Kenya.

“This thing will not happen at all because we have special ties with Kenya, so I want to tell our people not to panic,” he said.