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 of the so-called "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.
American officials said the six countries had failed to meet US security and information-sharing standards, which necessitated the travel ban.
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.
"We find this move unacceptable," he was cited by Reuters as saying, adding however that his government will stop short of expelling the US ambassador.
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.
“We don’t have official communication from the US government. We haven’t received a formal diplomatic communication, which is the official way of communicating between governments,” Emmanuel Buhohela, spokesman for the Ministry Foreign Affairs, said on Saturday.
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.
With the blessing of the Supreme Court’s five conservative justices, the Trump administration is making efforts to end the Diversity Visa lottery, which provides green cards to immigrants from countries whose citizens are underrepresented in the United States. Africans are the biggest beneficiaries of the program.
The president has defended these moves by citing national security concerns, and claiming that he wants more high-skilled immigrants.
Analysts, however, believe that Trump’s political agenda regarding the travel bans is rooted in the racist attitude of Trump and his bigotry.
Trump's outrageous remarks regarding immigrants has stirred much controversy in the past.
In 2018, 55 African countries demanded a “retraction and an apology” from Trump after the US president referred to countries such as El Salvador, Haiti and certain African nations as “shithole” countries.
During the 2016 presidential race, Trump campaigned for “a total and complete shutdown” of US borders on those he deemed as undesirable.
