A coaching session for the Senegalese girls’s basketball crew within the US has been scrapped, with the West African nation’s prime minister saying he cancelled it as a result of among the squad have been denied US visas.
Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko mentioned the crew would now prepare in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, “in a sovereign and conducive setting”.
It comes amid experiences that the US plans to impose contemporary journey restrictions on 25 extra African international locations, together with Senegal.
Earlier this month the US introduced a ban on residents from 12 international locations, together with seven from Africa. There have been additionally partial journey restrictions on nationals from an extra seven international locations, with three from Africa.
It stays unclear why the Senegalese athletes have been denied visas, because the US Embassy is but to publicly touch upon the matter.
“Knowledgeable of the refusal of issuing visas to a number of members of the Senegal girls’s nationwide basketball crew, I’ve instructed the Ministry of Sports activities to easily cancel the ten-day preparatory coaching initially deliberate in the USA of America,” Sonko mentioned on Thursday in an announcement shared to social media.
Reviews say 5 Senegalese basketball gamers and 13 crew officers have been travelling to satisfy different members of the squad and their coach who have been already within the US, to heat up for the 2025 Girls’s AfroBasket match in Ivory Coast subsequent month.
However their visa functions weren’t accredited.
The visa refusals are elevating eyebrows as a result of, in line with the just lately leaked diplomatic cable containing particulars of the prolonged journey restrictions, focused international locations got as much as 60 days to deal with the issues raised by the US.
These reportedly embrace individuals overstaying their visas, lack of co-operation with deportations, hyperlinks to terror assaults within the US, anti-semitism or anti-American exercise.
Following the reported new journey restrictions, Senegal’s international ministry urged nationals to adjust to their permitted intervals of keep within the US.
Though it didn’t instantly touch upon Senegal’s attainable inclusion within the newest record of restricted international locations, the federal government assertion underscored that diplomatic and consular companies have been working in shut collaboration with the US administration.
In the meantime, Nigeria’s International Minister Yussuf Tuggar mentioned the expanded journey bans might impede attainable vitality and uncommon earth mineral offers which West African international locations can provide the US.
The Trump administration insists nationwide safety issues and the excessive charge of visa overstays from some international locations should be addressed.
Extra reporting by Natasha Booty
