South Sudan Embassy in Nairobi Shut Down Over Unpaid Rent of at Least 4 Months

• The South Sudan Embassy in Kenya was closed on Tuesday, 11 August 2026, over rental arrears
• A South Sudanese national who travelled to the mission to process travel documents found the gates locked with no explanation from security
• Civil society leader Edmund Yakani warned the closure signals a dangerous lack of commitment to foreign engagement

The South Sudan Embassy in Kenya has been forced to close its doors after the government accumulated at least four months of unpaid rent, leaving citizens unable to access consular services at one of the country's most strategically significant diplomatic posts.

Embassy staff confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the mission, located in Nairobi's Kilimani neighbourhood, was shut on Tuesday, 11 August 2026.

Staff indicated the closure would remain in effect until the government settles the outstanding debt, though the precise amount owed could not be independently verified.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Apuk Ayuel Mayen was unreachable for comment.

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Citizens who depended on the embassy for routine consular services were turned away without warning. A South Sudanese national who identified himself as Stephen said he arrived at the mission seeking to renew travel documents, only to find the building locked.

"I went to the embassy to process some documents, like a travel document, but I found it closed," he said. "The security at the gate told me that the embassy had been closed the previous day. When I asked why, he said he was not aware."

The timing of the closure is particularly notable. Newly appointed Ambassador Simon Juach Deng had said farewell to President Salva Kiir in Juba on 6 August, just days before the shutdown, and is expected to take up his post at the Nairobi mission in September.

At the farewell ceremony, Kiir urged incoming diplomats to uphold high professional standards while representing South Sudan abroad.

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Civil Society Condemns South Sudan's Diplomatic Neglect

Civil society leader Edmund Yakani did not mince words in his response to the closure. "The leadership of the country has to prioritise financing our foreign missions as a budget priority," Yakani said. He further warned that the shutdown sent a damaging signal internationally, stating: "The absence of functional foreign missions demonstrates a lack of appetite for foreign engagement, which is a strategic mistake in regional and global politics and undermines the pursuit of national interests."

This is not the first time the Nairobi embassy has faced this predicament. In November 2025, the mission was similarly closed over unpaid rent. It was only reopened after Senior Presidential Envoy for Special Programmes Adut Salva Kiir personally paid three months of arrears on the government's behalf.

South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, has been grappling with a prolonged fiscal crisis rooted in its heavy reliance on oil revenues.

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The Nairobi mission has remained one of the most important outposts in the country's diplomatic network since independence, making its repeated closures a source of growing concern among citizens and observers alike.

Source: YEN.com.gh