Chad welcomes removal from US travel ban list

N’DJAMENA, Chad

The Chadian government has welcomed the United States decision to remove the central African country from its travel ban list.

"We continue to think that the inclusion of Chad in the list of countries of which the nationals are denied access to the United States was a mistake, so the lifting of the ban is only fair to Chadians," Minister of New Technologies and Information, and government spokeswoman, Madeleine Alingue told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

According to Alingue, the lifting of the travel ban on Chadians by U.S. President Donald Trump shows that bilateral ties between Chad and the U.S. are strengthening.

"There have been Chadian students, civil servants and businessmen studying or working in the United States who have been stuck [in Chad] with this decision. Some will not be able to go back even if the ban has been lifted because they have either lost their business or cannot make up their studies simply "

Late Tuesday the White House announced that it had removed Chad from its travel ban list.

''Based on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) assessment, President Donald J. Trump signed a proclamation today announcing that the Republic of Chad has improved its identity-management and information sharing practices sufficiently to meet the baseline security standard of the United States.

"Chad nationals will therefore again be able to receive visas for travel to the United States," the White House said in a statement.