African states in the Sahel and the Horn are facing their worst security crises for decades but United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will skate around those regions on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa in ten months...

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken had warned that officials suspected of rigging or manipulating the polls or of election violence would face travel bans...

In late September United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Washington would impose travel bans on those believed to be responsible for 'undermining democracy in Liberia' including manipulation or rigging of the electoral process the use of violence to prevent people from campaigning and voting and interference with media coverage...

In a statement last week US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the visa restrictions target 'those believed to be responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Sierra Leone including through the manipulation or rigging of the electoral process' and without naming names were aimed at 'specific individuals and not directed at the Sierra Leonean people'...