NGO canvases visa-free movement within Africa

The Trans-Africa Tourism and Unity Campaign organisation, an NGO, has called for visa-free movements across the continent to foster regional integration, economic growth, and tourism. Ras Mubarak, Leader of the group, who made the call at a news conference on Monday in Abuja, said the team was undertaking a 40,000-kilometre journey across 39 African countries. […]

The Trans-Africa Tourism and Unity Campaign organisation, an NGO, has called for visa-free movements across the continent to foster regional integration, economic growth, and tourism.

Ras Mubarak, Leader of the group, who made the call at a news conference on Monday in Abuja, said the team was undertaking a 40,000-kilometre journey across 39 African countries.

Mubarak said his team will meet with government officials and representatives of regional and continental organisations in Africa to drive home its point to remove barriers within Africa.

According to him, the aim is to dismantle visa barriers that inhibit people from moving freely from one part of the continent to the other.

Mubarak said, “Today in Africa, it is easier for a West African national to get a Schengen visa than it is for a West African national to get visas to some Southern African countries.

“It is easier for a Southern African national to travel to Istanbul, in Turkey, than to get a visa to The Gambia; that is the tragedy of our situation.

“So, we are looking forward to dismantling the visa barriers that fragment our continent, stifle tourism and hinder the free movement of 1.4 billion Africans.

“Now, these barriers are remnants of colonial divisions that contradict the African Union’s Agenda 2063 vision of a united, prosperous Africa. Now, that is 40 years from now.

“We must not wait for 40 years to have a borderless Africa. We believe and indeed we have seen it happen that this can be done in five years.”

He emphasised the need for African leaders to embrace a borderless future together as a means to make the dream of an open Africa a reality.

“We have written to ECOWAS, SADC, AU, the East African Community, and just about all the relevant authorities,” he said, lamenting that the group had not received positive responses from most of the organisations.