President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita who heads the five countries in Africa’s Sahel region has asked the U.S to lift its travel ban on Chad saying that a failure to do so could affect Chad’s security commitments.
Chad has been a key U.S. security partner since the Cold War.
“The president of the G5 thinks this decision could affect the commitment of Chad, which has until now shown itself to be a key partner in the fight against terrorism in the G5 Sahel and beyond,” said Keita in a statement.
“The president…calls on the authorities to favorably re-examine the matter by lifting the sanctions against Chad,” he added. Chadian officials expressed surprise at the decision earlier this week, calling it “incomprehensible”.
The United States said that the reason for adding chad to the list of countries which have been placed on travel ban was because Chad did not meet new requirements for vetting immigrants and issuing visas.
