Olusegun Ariyo
The US president, Donald Trump, is considering imposing a travel ban on almost half of Africa’s countries.
The majority of the countries on the shortlist of 43 are African.
In a document, The New York Times shared, an internal Trump proposal lists nations whose citizens could face restrictions on entering the US.
Somalia, Libya, and Sudan are African countries in the ‘Red’ category (all travel is banned).
Under ‘Orange’ (visas sharply restricted) are Eritrea, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan.
The nations under ‘Yellow’ (given 60 days to address concerns) include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Zimbabwe.
The move harks back to President Donald Trump’s first-term ban on travellers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before being upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
