US nationals visiting Mali will be required to post a $10,000 bond for tourist and business visas in a tit-for-tat response to the Trump administration’s imposition on the West African country.
Mali has become the latest African nation to be hit by a visa bond since Washington instituted the requirement in August, starting with citizens of Malawi and Zambia. The Gambia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Tanzania, and Mauritania were later added to the list, which Washington says is a move to prevent visa overstays, as part of its ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.
Last week neighboring Burkina Faso, which like Mali is also under military rule, took its own retaliatory measures against new rules from Washington, refusing to accept deportees from the US after the White House suspended the issuance of visas in the West African nation.
The Sahel’s junta regimes have steadily reduced diplomatic ties with the West as they deepen partnerships with China and Russia. In January, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger also withdrew from West African regional bloc Ecowas, having earlier formed their own Alliance of Sahel States grouping.