Hawzah News Agency (Washington - US) - Trump’s latest travel ban is intended to garner domestic support ahead of 2020 elections, but risks leaving the door wide open to Chinese and Russian expansionism in Africa.

Three years after his first travel ban, US President Donald Trump is about to issue another.

On Friday, the Trump administration announced it would impose a travel ban on six more countries. Instead of a Muslim-specific ban this time, most affected countries are African.

This comes nearly a year after Trump’s administration emphasized that a key part of its strategy for Africa was to counter Chinese and Russian influence in the continent by growing economic ties. The latest travel ban closes the door on Africa’s largest economy: Nigeria.

Not limited to Nigeria, it also closes the door on Sudan, Tanzania and Eritrea, in addition to Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar, which is accused of waging genocide against its Muslim population: the Rohingya.

The travel ban will effectively restrict thousands from obtaining immigrant visas to the US.

The initial travel ban put into effect in 2017 was widely criticized for targeting Muslim-majority countries in an effort to protect the US from “radical Islamic terrorists.” Nearly 135 million people were affected.

The latest addition to the travel ban is set to impact nearly a quarter of the 1.2 billion people residing in Africa, the economies of their countries and the United State’s reputation in the region.