Indignation in Africa as Trump expands US travel ban

There is growing indignation in several African countries that have been the target of Washington's latest travel ban, with activists and rights groups complaining that the administration of President Donald Trump is pursuing a xenophobic and racist political agenda.

Africa’s biggest country, Nigeria, in addition to Sudan, Tanzania and Eritrea, as well as the Asian countries of Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar have been included in a new expanded version of the original travel ban that was imposed by Trump in 2017.

This is seen as an extension to the "Muslim ban" that targeted citizens of several Muslim-majority countries. In January 2017, Trump banned citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, as well as those of North Korea and Venezuela from entering US territory.

Under the expended immigration ban, to become effective as of February 21, the US missions will stop issuing visas that can result in permanent residency for nationals from Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria. Non-immigrant visitor visas will not be affected.

Eritrea has denounced the US ban on immigrant visas for its citizens as "political" and "unacceptable."

On Saturday, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed said the government saw the ban as a political move that would hurt the country's relations with the US.

Nigeria's government said it had created a committee to address the issues that led to a suspension of US immigrant visas to its citizens, the president's office said on Saturday.

As for nationals of Tanzania and Sudan, they will be excluded from the US government "diversity" program which issues immigrant visas to applicants in an annual lottery.

Tanzania complained that it had not been officially notified by the United States of its inclusion in the new travel ban.

Sudan is yet to react to the new US travel restrictions.

Kyrgyzstan, for its part, has warned the US that the travel restrictions would damage bilateral ties.

The country’s Foreign Ministry summoned the American ambassador to Bishkek, Donald Lu, on Saturday to demand explanation for the restrictions.

Analysts, however, believe that Trump’s political agenda regarding the travel bans is rooted in the racist attitude of Trump and his bigotry.

SS