Trump travel ban attracts revenge ban by Libya's rival government

Libya’s parallel government has banned American travelers from entering the country in retaliation to U.S. President Trump’s latest travel ban imposed on Libya and seven other countries.

The government in East Libya aligned with dominant figure Khalifa Haftar said in a statement quoted by Reuters on Wednesday that the latest U.S. travel ban is “a dangerous escalation that targets Libyan citizens and puts them in the same basket as the terrorists against whom our … armed forces are fighting.”

The U.S. travel ban which will take effect on October 18 was announced last Sunday. It affects citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and some citizens of Venezuela.

Chad is the latest African country affected by the ban over its failure to “share terrorism-related and other crucial information.”

The earlier ban of March 6 affected citizens of Libya, Somalia and Sudan who lack a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States”.

The U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Fayez Seraj has not made a statement on the travel ban.