The West African country said the bans were equivalent to those imposed by the United States on its citizens.

Mali and Burkina Faso have announced plans to impose reciprocal visa bans on U.S. citizens, weeks after President Donald Trump included the West African country in the expanded list. travel ban list.

In a separate letter shared late Tuesday, both countries emphasized that the new measures are intended to apply the same rules to Americans traveling to their respective countries as their own citizens traveling to the United States.

Mali’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said U.S. citizens traveling to the country would encounter “the same conditions and requirements imposed by U.S. authorities on Malian citizens entering the United States.”

It added that the changes were introduced as a “matter of reciprocity and take effect immediately”.

Burkina Faso said it was “applying equal visa measures to citizens of the United States of America” ​​and stressed that it “remains committed to the principles of mutual respect, sovereign equality of nations and reciprocity in international relations”.

The announcements came after Trump spoke December 16 He added seven more countries, as well as holders of Palestinian Authority documents, to the list of countries whose nationals are “completely” restricted from entering the United States.

Burkina Faso and Mali are among the countries included on the list, both Arab or African countries.

Trump said at the time that the changes were introduced to meet the United States’ “foreign policy, national security and counterterrorism objectives.”

A section explaining the ban on Burkina Faso nationals said the U.S. State Department found that “terrorist groups continue to plan and carry out terrorist activities throughout Burkina Faso.”

It also cited visa overstays and historic refusals to “accept” nationals deported from the United States.

Regarding Mali, Trump’s statement said the State Department found that “armed conflicts between the Malian government and armed groups are common across the country and that “terrorist groups operate freely in certain areas of Mali.”

Overall, the newly added countries bring the total to 19, adding Palestine to countries banned by Trump, who introduced a similar travel ban during his first term as president.

Like Niger, which was also added to the U.S.’s new list of banned countries in mid-December, Mali and Burkina Faso have recently sought to distance themselves from Western countries while cooperating in a new group called the Alliance of Sahel Countries (AES).

All three countries are led by military leaders who have forged closer ties with Russia in recent years while expelling French and American soldiers previously stationed there.

Mali welcomes Russian troops, including about 1,500 personnel from the Wagner mercenary group and about 1,000 fighters from the Kremlin-controlled paramilitary group Afrika Korps.

in the most recent Sahel Summit In Bamako, Mali, the three countries announced the launch of combined military battalion aimed at combating armed groups in the area.

However, they have struggled to improve the security situation in the country amid increasing attacks by separatist groups and armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS).