Africa offers twin-track response to bar on re-entry into EU

The Ghanaian government has opened up on the reason why Ghana was not included in the list of countries permitted to enter the European Union (EU) when its borders reopened.

EU countries opened their external borders on Wednesday 1 July 2020 as COVID-19 restrictions gradually ease. So far, only 14 countries globally have been allowed re-entry into Europe.

Ghana’s Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the EU’s exclusion of Ghana comes as little surprise. Just as Ghana has restricted travel into its territory to ensure that the spread of COVID-19 is mitigated, he said, the EU has taken similar steps.

“For many of the European countries, Ghana, from our 15 March travel restrictions, also sought to limit travel from those places into our jurisdiction,” Oppong Nkrumah told the Accra-based Citi FM. “So this in itself is not really a surprise.

“The effect generally is that it limits the kind of activity between persons within these jurisdictions until such a time that both or at least one side is comfortable that the [COVID-19] numbers have been brought down significantly.”

Retrospective “principle of reciprocity”

Meanwhile, in a tit-for-tat response, Libreville has decided to suspend issuing visas to Europeans who want to enter Gabon. Citizens of the 27 EU member states will not be permitted to enter Gabon for the foreseeable future.

Gabon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nzé, said the decision to bar European travellers was inspired by “the principle of reciprocity”.

A circular to diplomatic missions from Gabon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated 1 July said: “As a measure of reciprocity, we are asking the ambassadors and consuls of Gabon to continue to suspend issuing tourist visas to nationals of the states (27) of the EU who wish to travel to Gabon.”

The circular said the restrictions will cover requests for business, private, tourism and professional visas but exclude officials summoned to Gabon with authorisation from the Gabonese government.

Bilie-By-Nzé argued that his country had every right to take such a decision, given that the EU had decided to continue to exclude Gabonese citizens from member states of the Union.

EU restrictions

The 14 countries allowed entry into the EU as borders reopen are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay. Travellers from China will be allowed to visit, pending reciprocal access to China for EU visitors. Brazil, Russia and the United States of America remain on the list of those excluded.

The Maghreb dominates the short list of African countries not prevented from entering Europe: Algeria, Morocco, Rwanda and Tunisia.

European Union health officials say they agreed to allow only countries with a favourable epidemiological profile to enter EU member states. The decision was based on the number of new COVID-19 cases over the previous 14 days, the overall trend of the coronavirus disease and governments’ handling of the health crisis.

“The European Union has an internal process to determine from which countries it would be safe to accept travellers,” said Eric Mamer, a spokesman for the EU Commission.

Readmitting Ghana

In Accra, the Minister of Information stressed that the Government of Ghana is working on measures to slow the rate of COVID-19 infection. This, he said, would put Ghana in a good position to be readmitted to the EU when the Union reviews its restrictions.

The government could present a better case for Ghanaian citizens to be allowed into Europe, should the country’s COVID-19 cases reduce further, Oppong Nkrumah said.

“… our desire is to bring down [the] active case count, so that it helps to make a strong case as the world also considers easing some of these border closures,” he said.

E A Alanore and Asaase staff writers

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