JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Seven of the eight men deported to South Sudan from the United States earlier this year remain in custody as local officials consider what to do with them, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

South Sudan’s will decide if the men should remain in the country or be repatriated elsewhere, foreign ministry spokesman Apuk Ayuel Mayen told reporters in Juba, the capital.

The eighth deportee, a South Sudan national, was freed and is now with his family, she said.

Mayen said the deportation from the U.S. of foreign nationals was based on bilateral talks and not a formal agreement. She gave no further details on the deportees in custody.

It is not clear precisely where in South Sudan the seven men are being held and under what conditions, or if they have access to legal

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