Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera on Sunday denounced bans on Africa travel imposed by the Biden administration and several other governments, in response to the Omicron coronavirus variant, as “Afrophobia.”
“We are all concerned about the new Covid [Chinese coronavirus] variant and owe South Africa’s scientists our thanks for identifying it before anyone else did,” Chakwera wrote on Facebook.
“But the unilateral travel bans now imposed on SADC countries by the UK, EU, U.S., Australia, and others are uncalled for,” he continued. “Covid measures must be based on science, not Afrophobia.”
SADC refers to the Southern African Development Community, a bloc of 16 nations that includes Malawi and South Africa.
Several other African leaders criticized the travel bans imposed swiftly against their region over the weekend, notably including South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said the restrictions were “completely unjustified and unfairly discriminate against our country.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the media after meeting with his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday Nov. 23, 2021 . (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
“The prohibition of travel is not informed by science. Nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant. The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to and also to recover from the pandemic,” Ramaphosa said over the weekend.
Restrictions on travel from South Africa were even imposed over the weekend by some other African nations, including Rwanda and Angola.
US President Joe Biden speaks on the Covid-19 omicron variant in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on November 29, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration announced on Friday that beginning on Monday, travel will be prohibited from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi for everyone except U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Members of those groups will be required to show a negative coronavirus test before entering the U.S.
“I’ve decided that we’re going to be cautious. We don’t know a lot about the variant except that it is a great concern and seems to spread rapidly,” President Joe Biden said.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden denounced the Trump administration’s coronavirus travel bans as “reactionary,” “hysterical xenophobia,” and “fear-mongering.”
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