US Adds Nigeria, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan to Trump's New Travel Ban

Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban
Africa News

Four African nations have been added to a new travel ban by United States president Donald Trump. Incidentally, only one of the quartet is a Muslim-majority nation i.e. Sudan.

The others are Eritrea, Nigeria and Tanzania. The quartet are joined by the Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan. During an engagement on the sidelines of the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump, told the Wall Street Journal that plans were afoot to upgrade the controversial list.

The measure largely affects specific types of visas. Analysts have averred that business or visitor visas could likely be impacted.

Barely a year after coming into office back in 2017, Trump issued his first controversial travel ban which barred people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Libya and Somalia were African reps along with Iran, Syria and Yemen.

A court challenge of the measure was upheld by the Supreme Court in June 2018. The court ruled that it was within Trump’s executive powers to issue such an order. The fightback against it however continues by some politicians and activists.

The United States’ recently published blacklist of religious freedom violations report kept Eritrea listed whiles it removed Sudan. Nigeria along with Comoros were classed on a watchlist by the State Department.

Nigeria hit back at the U.S. for self appointing itself police of the world. “In international relations, you respect the internal affairs of other countries. The U.S. itself has enough to chew solving its own problems not to talk of poke-nosing into that of another country.”

“No man, no country, nobody has appointed them the policeman of the world, let them face their own issues”, Mr Adesina, a media aide to President Buhari said in December 2019.