By James Chatim

Civil society leader, Edmund Yakani, has raised concern over the health status of the recently deported eight individuals to country from Djibouti by the U.S. administration.

The Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) on Friday said he received complaints from some of the immediate families of the deportees regarding challenges faced  in accessing medical services, prompting him to appeal to the government to provide medical attention and care to the deportees.

“I would like to appeal to the government of South Sudan over the issue of the health condition of the eight deportees. This comes after our government, through the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demonstrated a high, remarkable, impressive, encouraging move by coming out publicly and informing South Sudanese citizens and the global community in general that South Sudan received the eight individuals that were deported from U.S. through Djibouti after meeting the standard procedure for deportation,” said Yakani.

“The statement offers a very positive position, step and attitude from our government that they respect humanity, dignity, and safeguard rights even to those that are in conflict with the law. Therefore, I would like to appeal to the government of South Sudan that there’s a need to provide access to the deportees in terms of their health conditions because we are in contact with the families and with representatives of some of the deportees,” he highlighted.

“Some of the deportees have very serious medical cases like diabetes, epilepsy among others, which require regular medical attention,” said the CEPO Director.

On Saturday, 5, July, 2025, eight migrant men deported from the United States in May and held under guard for weeks at an American military base in Djibouti arrived in South Sudan.

The immigrants from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan arrived in the country after a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to relocate them in a case that had gone to the Supreme Court, permitting their removal from the U.S.

Administration officials said the men had been convicted of violent crimes in the U.S.