Citizens forced to pay extra money at Khartoum embassy to receive passports on time  

JUBA – South Sudanese nationals living in Sudan are accusing employees of their country’s embassy in Khartoum of forcing them to pay at least $50 in extra money in order to receive their national documents – especially passports – on time.

One South Sudanese national who only identified himself as ‘Angelo’ said he completed all legal procedures to obtain passports for his 10 children in December 2019, but hasn’t yet received the passports despite paying all the required amounts.

Angelo said he was surprised to learn that two of his friends who started the process at the beginning of March, and who had paid $50 extra money, have immediately received their passports.

“South Sudan embassy in Sudan has become a safe haven for corruption. I completed the process of making the passports and national identification cards in December 2019 and I haven’t received those documents up to now,” Angelo said.

“Two people I know very well have received their passports, but they started the process to have these documents about two weeks ago, or at the start of this month. They paid $50 dollars each and this is why they have received their passports before me,” he added.

Angelo added that he “had paid all the money required by the law and I even paid more money in order to receive it on time on time in 2019 just before festive holiday, but me and most people who started with me have not yet received our passports.”

Angelo said he arrived in Khartoum with his children from Raja in 2017 and is hoping to travel to Egypt to seek medication for his daughter whom he said has kidney problem, but cannot travel given the delays to receive passports.

“I came from Raja in 2017 after the war escalated in Western Bahr el Ghazal and my daughter in 2018 started a kidney problem and she had to be taken to the hospital twice a week here in Khartoum, something that costs a lot of money,” he said.

“I want to take her to Egypt maybe things will be okay there, but the delays in the passports is causing concerns that my daughter’s situation may worsen and this is unfortunate that people like me are not served with this simple thing which I also has to pay,” he added.

Another citizen who identified herself as Rebecca separately told Sudans Post’s Nancy Abdelraman that it was also difficult for people whose passports have already been sent to Khartoum by the passport authority in Juba because the embassy staff would first want to see a gesture that they are going to receive money.

“Even for the passports which has arrived in the embassy here in Khartoum is very difficult to receive because the officers wants to see from your eye and your talk that you will thank them by given them money,” Rebecca said.

“This issue has been raised by the community in Khartoum with the ambassador but he looks like he doesn’t see anything like this in the embassy because he is a part of the system that is ransacking South Sudanese,” she added.

Rebecca who also want to travel said “citizens are being forced to pay money by the embassy in order to get their passports and some people are really struggling with life in Sudan because the economic situation in Sudan has become very bad and cannot afford to pay huge amounts”