South Sudan diplomatic passport

The ministry of foreign Affairs has finally clarified why it issues diplomatic passports to children of diplomats with ‘strange occupations’.

Last month, South Sudanese online got angry when such a passport was posted on Facebook by a Kenyan national who found it.

It described the holder as daughter of “amassador” – an incorrect spelling of the word ambassador.

On Monday, the spokesperson of the ministry told Eye Radio that spouses and dependents below 18 get diplomatic passports with those titles.

But he said: “[There] are cases where children above 18 can be given, and those cases are rare and acceptable.”

Ambassador Mawien defended this by saying the issuance are done within a policy framework of the ministry.

Earlier on, an anti-money laundering report by the Enough Project showed that some passport holders were described as “son of president”.

The Passports and Immigration Act, 2011 does not address the occupation issue.