South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
Dr. Arou Ramadan Chan, Secretary General for the SSBF
By Awan Achiek
South Sudanese seeking travel visas to watch the upcoming Paris Olympic Games have been warned to beware of scammers by the South Sudan Basketball Federation (SSBF).
Dr. Arou Ramadan Chan, Secretary General for the SSBF said on Tuesday during press conference held in Juba, that they have received reports on people with intention to scam fans seeking visas to travel to France for the Olympic Games.
“Some few weeks ago, after several meetings with the embassy, we came to agreement to put a link on our page, and that link when you click on it you will be able to get all the details for you to pay for the visit,” Ramadan said.
He said the visas to France can only be issued at the French Embassy in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
“It is very clear that the visit can be issued when you go to Addis Ababa because we don’t have the machine here to biometric scan,” he said.
“From our side, we have not asked anybody to do that job for us and we are not aware of anybody doing visa for anybody in South Sudan, so if it is somebody that you know and trust, you go ahead and this is not under the responsibility of the Federation,” Ramadan said.
He advised those interested to travel to France to visit their web page to start the process of visa application.
“I am saying this because there are scammers out there who would want to use this opportunity to scam our people and that is not acceptable,” Ramdan said.
For his part, Francis Ezekiel Idris, Deputy Executive Director for the South Sudan National Olympics Committee also cautioned fans on the scammers.
“Let us be very careful outside as South Sudanese, people are looking for any opportunity to make quick money and somebody has taken this Olympics game as an opportunity to make quick money from our people,” Ezekiel said.
He said the Ministry of Youth and Sport, South Sudan Basketball Federation and South Sudan National Olympics Committee are the only institutions that help those interested fans to apply for visas for the Olympic Games.
“Be very careful, whoever comes to you to say I can help you get a visa, know that person is lying to you, there is nobody in Juba that can help you to get the visa except the three bodies that you see sitting today, if it is not the Ministry, it is SSBS, if not it is SSNOC, outside these bodies don’t try and don’t risk it, it is not worth it,” Ezekiel said.
The Bright Stars qualified for the Paris Olympic Games after defeating Angola in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, achieving the biggest win in the country’s basketball history.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will take place from 26 July to 11 August this year.
