WASHINGTON, the United States | Xinhua | U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the United States is canceling all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and suspending the issuance of new ones. The action comes after South Sudan’s transitional government failed to accept the return of its deported citizens in a …

Washington is to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders -- and block new arrivals -- over South Sudan's failure to accept the return of its repatriated citizens, Secretary of State…

The decision comes at a time when many in Africa fear that the country could return to the civil war.

Marco Rubio complains that the African nation is not accepting its nationals expelled from US.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the United States was revoking all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders, accusing the African nation's government of “taking advantage of the United States.” “Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove them,” Rubio said in a statement, adding that “South Sudan’s transitional government has failed to fully respect this principle."

The United States once cheered the creation of South Sudan as an independent nation.

South Sudan's people had been granted temporary protected status by the U.S. because of insecurity at home.

April 6 (UPI) -- Secretary of State Marco Rubio has canceled visas for people from South Sudan because the country has refused to accept the return of its immigrants deported from the United States.