The United States Department of State has placed 23 countries under its highest travel advisory, Level 4, warning Americans not to travel to those destinations under any circumstances.
In an updated advisory seen on Saturday on the department’s TravelGov X account, the State Department explained that Level 4 warnings are issued for countries where security conditions are considered extremely dangerous or where the US government has limited capacity to provide assistance to its citizens.
“We issue Travel Advisories with Levels 1–4. Level 4 means DO NOT TRAVEL. We assign Level 4 based on local conditions and/or our limited ability to help Americans there,” the department said in the notice posted on Thursday.
It added, “These places are dangerous. Do not go for ANY reason.”
The 11 African countries on the Level 4 list are Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Mali, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.
Full list of countries under US Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory
Afghanistan
Belarus
Burkina Faso
Burma (Myanmar)
Central African Republic
Chad
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Haiti
Iran
Iraq
Lebanon
Libya
Mali
Niger
North Korea
Russia
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Uganda
Ukraine
Yemen
The latest advisory comes months after the State Department retained Nigeria at Level 3: Reconsider Travel, while designating several Nigerian states as Level 4: Do Not Travel due to security concerns.
Level 4 states that U.S. citizens are urged to avoid include, in the North, Borno, Jigawa, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe, and northern Adamawa states.
In South-South and South-East are Abia, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Imo, and Rivers states (excluding Port Harcourt).
According to the advisory, Americans are urged to reconsider travel to Nigeria because of crime, terrorism, kidnapping, civil unrest and inconsistent healthcare services, while travel to designated Level 4 states is strongly discouraged.
Reacting to the tags, the Nigerian government described the US decision as a “routine precaution guided by internal protocols” which does not reflect the country’s situation.
Minister of information, Mohammed Idris, said while there are “isolated security challenges” in Nigeria, there is no breakdown of law and order, noting that the country remains stable.
(The Sun)
