The United States of America is planning to add 25 African countries to its list of nations whose citizens are barred from setting foot on its territory.
These African countries are part of 36 nations that Washington plans to include on a new list, according to an internal U.S. government document seen by the Washington Post and Reuters.
The document was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on June 14 and sent to diplomats in the affected countries informing them of the new decision.
However, these countries have been given 60 days to comply with U.S. requirements in order to avoid being included on the blacklist.
Washington states that this decision mainly targets countries that are unable to issue “credible identity documents,” or those that have “serious governance fraud.”
It also concerns countries with a large number of undocumented citizens in the U.S., exceeding the number of official visas issued.
All countries in the East African Community (EAC) are among those whose citizens may be barred from entering the U.S., except Rwanda and Kenya.
In general, the African countries listed include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Gabon.
Also included are Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Earlier this month, the U.S. had already issued a permanent ban for citizens of 12 countries from entering the country, citing the threat of “foreign terrorism.”
These countries include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
At that time, Washington also stated that citizens from seven other countries were partially restricted by President Donald Trump, due to them “posing a serious risk” to the U.S.
These include Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
