No African citizens allowed visas to attend annual African trade summit in US

An annual African trade summit in California could not be attended by African citizens this year after the US denied visas to at least 60 people, reports The Guardian.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 22 March 2017, 06:58 AM
Updated : 22 March 2017, 06:58 AM

The three-day African Global Economic and Development Summit meets every year to form partnerships between delegations from African countries and business leaders in the US.

This year, however, every single African citizen who requested a visa to attend the conference was rejected, organiser Mary Flowers told The Guardian.

Questions have been raised as to whether the denials could be linked to the Trump administrations attempts to curb immigration and its travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries.

According to Flowers, between 60 and 100 people from a dozen nations were denied entry to the summit, which was held by a smaller group from Mar 16-18.

“I don’t know if it’s Trump or if it’s the fact that the embassies that have been discriminating for a long time see this as an opportunity, because of talk of the travel ban, to blatantly reject everyone,” Flowers said in an interview. “These trade links create jobs for both America and Africa. It’s unbelievable what’s going on.”

Citizens of Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, South Africa and other countries were denied entry, said Flowers. People from countries covered by Trump’s travel ban, such as Somalia, Sudan and Libya, did not seek a visa for the event.

A US state department spokesperson declined to comment on the denials, saying in a statement: “We cannot speculate on whether someone may or may not be eligible for a visa, nor on any possible limitations … Applications are refused if an applicant is found ineligible under the Immigration and Nationality Act or other provisions of US law.”

Visa problems had previously affected the summit, according to Flowers, and roughly 40 percent of African participants interested in attending had been denied entry in previous years. The 100 percent rejection rate, however, was unusual and brought the number of attendees down from the usual 150-200 to only 50-75.

Flowers claims many of the visa applicants rejected had already registered for the event and paid initial visa fees, but were denied after short interview, despite bringing extensive documentation, such as bank statements and property records.

Flowers, who is the CEO of Global Green Development Group, which works on economic development projects in Africa, is concerned about the impact such denials will have on the business ties between the US and Africa.

“This summit is designed to bring Africa to America’s doorstep for investments and trade … We can’t have the government telling us to go do business with Africa and then you slam the doors in their face. We can’t survive as an internal country. We have to operate globally or we won’t be powerful.” 

The Guardian reports that Flowers has contacted US congresswoman Karen Bass, who represents Los Angeles and is the ranking member of the US foreign affairs subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

“When restrictive policies and practices are followed by US embassies when granting visas to Africans, it can hurt opportunities between US and African business entities,” Bass said in a statement to the Guardian on Monday. “I encourage the Department of State to make sure these policies are flexible enough to encourage the free flow of business ideas and opportunities.”