THE central African nation of Chad says it is suspending all visas to US citizens as a matter of “reciprocity”, after learning that it is one of a dozen countries whose nationals are banned from travelling to the US.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and pride,” continued President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno in a Facebook post (in French) on Thursday.
Africa is the continent worst affected by the travel ban announced by US President Donald Trump, with seven of the 12 countries on the list.
It is set to come into effect on Monday.
The order prohibits people from Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia and Sudan – as well as Afghanistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Iran and Yemen – from entering the US.
In addition, there will be travel restrictions on nationals of Burundi, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba, Laos, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – they will no longer be able to travel to the US on certain visas.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X.
The US president said the list could be revised if “material improvements” were made and additional countries could be added as “threats emerge around the world”.
The White House said these “common-sense restrictions” would “protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors”.
Somalia was quick to react to the travel ban, immediately pledging to work with the US to address any security issues.
In a statement, Somali ambassador to the US, Dahir Hassan Abdi, said his country “values its longstanding relationship” with America.
Chad did not disguise its dismay, and in addition to the president’s stern words, its Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul told the AFP news agency his government was “surprised by this announcement and even more by the terrorism-related reason [which] completely disregards Chad’s commitment and results in this area”.
The African Union said it was “concerned about the potential negative impact” of the measures and called on the US to adopt “a more consultative approach… with the countries concerned.”
BBC Tigrinya has spoken to several Eritreans who are alarmed by the ban.
“As Eritreans, we’ve already suffered under our regime at home and now we’re facing the same hardship under Trump’s immigration policies. We’ve endured so much pain,” one man told the BBC on condition of anonymity.