Mali and Burkina Faso have declared travel curbs on American nationals in a reciprocal step after the US placed both West African states on a no-entry roster.
In statements released separately by the two countries’ foreign ministries and viewed Wednesday, they said they were enforcing “equivalent measures” on US citizens, after President Donald Trump widened a travel ban to almost 40 countries this month, based solely on nationality.
That list covered Syrian citizens, as well as Palestinian Authority passport holders, and nationals of some of Africa’s poorest states, including also Niger, Sierra Leone and South Sudan.
The White House said it was banning foreigners who “intend to threaten” Americans.
Burkina Faso’s foreign ministry said in the statement that it was applying “equivalent visa measures” on Americans, while Mali said it was, “with immediate effect”, applying “the same conditions and requirements on American nationals that the American authorities have imposed on Malian citizens entering the United States”.
It expressed its “regret” that the United States had taken “such an important decision without the slightest prior consultation”.
The two sub-Saharan countries, both governed by military juntas, belong to a confederation that also includes Niger.
Niger has not formally announced any counter-steps to the US travel ban, but the country’s news agency, citing a diplomatic source, said last week that such measures had been decided.
In his December 17 announcement, Trump also introduced partial travel limits on citizens of other African countries, including the most populous, Nigeria, as well as the Ivory Coast and Senegal, which qualified for the football World Cup to be staged next year in the United States, alongside Canada and Mexico.
