Image source, Getty Images
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- Author, Yūsafing Lion
- Author’s title, BBC News, Lagos
- Author, Natasha Booty
- Author’s title, BBC News, London
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Nigeria is one of the first countries of Africa that has made it clear that it will not yield to the US pressure to accept Venezuelan deportees or prisoners from other third countries from the North American country.
“The United States is exerting considerable pressure on African countries to accept that Venezuelans be deported in the United States, some directly from jail,” said Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar, from Brazil, where he was at a summit of the BRICS.
“It will be difficult for a country like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners in Nigeria. We already have enough problems,” he said.
“It would be unfair for Nigeria to accept 300 Venezuelan deportees,” added the Nigerian minister.
Their comments occur after Washington’s threats to restrict visas and increase tariffs to countries that do not collaborate with White House policies.
Earlier this week, the US Department of State said that, as part of a “global reciprocity readjustment”, almost all non -immigrant and non -diplomatic visas issued to Citizens of Nigeria, as well as those of Cameroon and Ethiopia, would now be unique and valid only for three months.
On Friday, the United States Embassy in Abuja, the Federal Capital of Nigeria, denied that the Trump government was applying restrictive measures regarding visa as punishment for the fact that Nigeria did not yield to its demands.
The true reason for visa restrictions, according to the embassy, were “technical and security criteria” that should be respected.
Image source, Getty Images
“In the words of the famous American rap group Public Enemy … ‘Flava Flav has its own problems. I can’t do anything for you,’ said Tuggar in an interview with the private chain Channels TV.
Earlier this month, the United States deported eight people to South Sudan after a legal battle that led them to be diverted to Yibuti for several weeks.
According to press reports in the US, at least four other African countries have been probes by the United States to host deportees: Benín, Esuatini, Libya and Rwanda.
Objectives in Africa
Tuggar’s words occur after the newspaper The Wall Street Journal He cited internal documents and sources that claimed that the Trump government was also pressing the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Mauritania, Gabón and Guinea-Bissau to accept migrants deported by the United States whose countries of origin reject or take them to welcome them.
According to the newspaper, before the summit held on Wednesday at the White House with the presidents of those countries, the Trump government had already sent them requests to accept the migrants expelled from the United States.
Trump seemed to refer to the proposal during the meeting with the five leaders.
“I hope we can reduce the high rates of people who stay longer than allowed by their visas and also advance in the agreements of third safe countries,” he said during his opening speech of the meeting.
It is not clear if any of the countries of Western Africa accepted applications.
When asked what Nigeria was doing to achieve a diplomatic solution, Minister Tuggar replied that the country was dialogue with the United States and solving the differences.
The Foreign Minister of Liberia, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, denied any type of negotiation with Washington and declared Thursday in the BBC Newsday program: “We have not held conversations about the arrival of deportees or criminals to Liberia.”
Image source, Getty Images
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on countries that are aligned with the BRICS Alliance policies that go against the interests of the United States.
The BRICS Group, formed by 11 nations, has raised a challenge to the political and economic power of the West.
Last year, the BRICS members were extended beyond the original group formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. .
Nigeria is not a full member of the BRICS, but became its ninth socio -partner in January.
Minister Tuggar said that the threat of tariff rise “does not have to be related” to Nigerian participation with the BRICS.
He said he was looking for “reaching agreements with the United States” because the country has a lot of gas, critical minerals and rare earths needed by US technology companies.
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