South Sudanese Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of South Sudanese ancestry, or South Sudanese people who have American citizenship. South Sudanese Americans can include American descendants to South Sudanese ancestors or South Sudanese immigrants who obtained an American citizenship. According to former Ambassador Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth (Head of Mission in Washington DC for Southern Sudan), more than 100,000 southern Sudanese live in the US, whose ancestors (or they) emigrated from their native country, mainly in the 1980s and 1990s. Many South Sudanese have moved to the US since the 1990s as war refugees, escaping civil war in Sudan and the refugee camps in Africa.