Triumph

Johannesburg – In most of the mornings, dozens of people align and wait for appointments outside the consulate of the United States in Johannesburg, South Africa, many of them look for visa requests to travel to the US. UU. You can take up to five or six months only to obtain one of the appointments.

On Thursday, a cold winter morning in South Africa, News themezone found hopeful travelers in the line worried about what could happen if they arrive at an arrival door to an airport in the United States or during their visits.

President Trump’s announcement on Wednesday of an imminent travel ban In all citizens of 12 nations in Africa and the Middle East, they did not even include South Africa, despite the relations of the US leader with the country. But the anxiety caused by the return of general travel restrictions, something Trump did during his first term, was almost palpable in Johannesburg.

A person on the line said he planned to travel for a work conference, but they wondered if it was a good idea.

Another, which tentatively plans to travel for non -essential reasons, worried that, with the last name Assad, it could be better to omit the trip completely planned.

“Do you run the risk of being rounded and sent to another country, or even in jail?” They asked. “The risk is simply too high.”

No one in the line would give News themezone his full name, for fear, most said, of any public comment that is possibly a denial of his visa application.

What African countries face Trump’s prohibition and why?

Nationals from seven African countries face the prohibition of traveling to the United States since June 9, according to Mr. Trump’s announcement: Chad, Somalia, Sudan, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and Libya.

Three of those countries, Sudan, Somalia and Libya, were among the countries under a Travel ban during Mr. Trump’s first mandate In January 2017, although the restrictions to Sudan were later withdrawn, and those against Somalia and Libya were relieved.

Many of the 12 countries of the new list have been destroyed by repressive regimes and plagued by conflicts.

“We do not want them,” said President Trump to announce the ban on Wednesday, which he said, “to protect Americans from dangerous actors.”

He cited risks that range from terrorism to the people who overcome their visas, and emphasized that the United States “cannot have an open migration from any country where we cannot examine and detect safely and reliably those who seek to enter.”

Somalia was summoned by the president as a “terrorist security shelter”, while Libya, he said, had a “historical terrorist presence.”

“The recent Terrorist attack in BoulderColorado, has underlined the extreme dangers raised for our country through the entry of foreign citizens who are not properly examined, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and exceed their visas, “Trump said.

Critics noticed that man accused in that attack, Mohamed Sabry Solimanhe is an Egyptian citizen, and Egypt is not included in the Trump -announced Trips Prohibition list on Wednesday.

Somalia immediately responded to the proclamation of the US leader, with the country’s ambassador to the United States, Dahir Hassan Abdi, saying in a statement that “Somalia values ​​his long -standing relationship with the United States and is ready to participate in the dialogue to address the proposed concerns.”

Trump said in his comments that “the United States must be attentive during the visas process.”

The Africa Union issued a statement on Thursday asking the United States to adopt a “more advisory approach” with the countries appointed by Mr. Trump, and added that he was concerned about the “potential negative impact on people’s ties to people, educational exchange, commercial commitment and broader diplomatic relations that have been carefully nourished for decades.”

For a long time it has been difficult and laborious that people from many African nations get a visa to travel to the United States.

However, Trump’s announcement occurred, a few days after a second group of “refugees” Afrikaner South African suspend other refugee programs.

President Trump has repeated false affirms that a white genocide takes place In South Africa, affirm that Afrikaner farmers are victims of systemic and racially motivated violence.

In January, South Africa adopted a draft law for expropriation of land that allows the State to take possession of land to address racial disparities on property. To date, a land without compensation in South Africa has not been expropriated, despite the claims of right -wing activists in the country, and some prominent followers outside South Africa, including ELON ALMIZCLE – On the contrary.

Shortly after the bill was approved, in information with journalists, Trump accused the South Africa government of “doing some terrible and horrible things,” and said in a publication on the social networks that would be, “cutting all future funds to South Africa until a complete investigation of this situation has been completed!”

As the relations between the two countries deteriorated, President Cyril Ramaphosa traveled to Washington at the end of last month with a series of new measures to try to repair the ties. But President Trump ambushed him in the Oval office, with news cameras rolling, with a video that claimed as proof of the so -called white genocide.

The video included clips from the controversial figure of the South African opposition Julius Malema singing a song that became popular during the fight against apartheid, called “Kill the Boer”, which means Afrikaner.

Ramaphosa saw the video and then pointed to Mr. Trump that the opinions expressed in it were not a government policy, before admitting that South Africa undoubtedly has a violent crime problem, but that only a small number of white farmers had been attacked.

The two -hour Ramaphosa meeting with President Trump was largely seen as a productive from the South African point of view. Ramaphosa hoped to leave the White House with the security of Mr. Trump that he would attend the G20 summit in South Africa in November. He did not understand that, but the American leader said he was considering it.

The United States Embassy in South Africa then issued a statement that updates the administration policy, saying that to qualify for the resettlement of the United States, the applicants “must be from ethnicity Afrikaner or member of a racial minority in South Africa and must be able to articulate a past experience of persecution or fear of persecution.”

Throughout Africa, there was already a sense of confusion and sadness for the relentless help and commercial cuts brought by the Trump administration, and travel prohibitions have only exacerbated that feeling.

“Maybe we no longer like Americans,” a woman suggested in the line outside the United States consulate on Thursday.

• Travel
• Immigration
• Terrorism
• Africa
• South Africa
• Donald Trump