WASHINGTON: The United States has announced visa restrictions on 14 Syrian officials, the State Department said on Friday, citing their links to enforced disappearances.
These restrictions are in addition to the 21 Syrian officials announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March, the department in the statement said. It said more than 96,000 men, women, and children have been disappeared by the government of Syria as a way of dealing with critics.
The visa restrictions also include members of South Sudan government and others who have hindered humanitarian assistance to the country by taxing shipments, the State Department said.
South Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of people killed as a result of civil war from 2013-2018, is witnessing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises as a result of persistent conflict, natural disasters and poverty.
UN missions in the African state have said South Sudanese authorities are holding up United Nations fuel tankers over a tax dispute, putting the delivery of millions of dollars of aid during a humanitarian crisis in jeopardy.
“Despite assurances, the government has yet to effectively reduce the unacceptably high costs, bureaucratic obstacles, and risks of providing humanitarian assistance to South Sudanese people in need,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
He said this raises questions about its willingness and capacity to abide by its 2018 peace commitment to create an enabling environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid and protection.
