CHAD’S President Mahamat Idriss Deby on Thursday announced that his country will suspend the issuance of visas to United States citizens in response to the Trump administration’s decision to ban Chadians from visiting the US.

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he was putting in place a visa ban on 12 countries including Chad, accusing them of having “deficient” screening and vetting and historically refusing to take back their own citizens who overstay in the US.

The new ban, which begins next Monday, targets Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

There will also be heightened restrictions on visitors from seven other nations in the new travel policy.

In a Facebook post, Chad’s president said that he is directing his government to suspend visas to US citizens “in accordance with the principles of reciprocity.”

“Chad has no planes to offer, no billions of dollars to give but Chad has his dignity and pride,” President Deby said, referring to the $400 million (£300m) luxury plane offered to Mr Trump as a gift by the ruling family of Qatar.

The new travel policy has triggered varied reactions from Africa, whose countries make up seven of the 12 countries affected by Trump’s ban.

In the Republic of Congo, government spokesperson Thierry Moungalla said that he believes the country was among those affected because of a “misunderstanding” over an armed attack in the US with the perpetrators “mistaken” to be from the Congo.

“Obviously, Congo is not a terrorist country, is not home to any terrorist, is not known to have a terrorist vocation. So we think that this is a misunderstanding and I believe that in the coming hours, the competent diplomatic services of the government will contact the US authorities here,” he said.

Sierra Leone’s Information Minister Chernor Bah said that his country “will work with US authorities to ensure progress.”