AFRICANS who want to travel have long endured gigantic hassles when trying to obtain visas, not just to rich countries but also to other African ones. Ugandans now face an extra hurdle before they even reach a foreign embassy. On June 12th the government said it was running out of new passports and would ration them. They will be issued only to people suffering medical emergencies, or needing to travel for government business or to study. Everyone else will have to wait, possibly for months.
Uganda says the shortage is because of a surge in demand. It is not the only country where getting identity documents has proved difficult. Until last year Zimbabweans would spend nights sleeping outside the passport office to avoid losing their place in the queue. At one point, no more were issued because the ink ran out. Nigerians, too, faced a passport drought when the company printing them slowed supplies as it haggled with the government over the price.
The shortage is...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2sUIEe7
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