Le Nigérian Wole Soyinka, Nobel de littérature, annonce que son visa américain a été annulé
Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, the first African author to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and a strong critic of President Donald Trump, announced Tuesday that the United States consulate in Lagos had revoked his visa.
"I want to assure the consulate... that I am very happy with the cancellation of my visa," the renowned 91-year-old Nigerian playwright and author said at a press conference.
An icon of African literature, he is also a major figure in opposition to military dictatorships in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.
Earlier this year, he reported being summoned by the US consulate for an interview regarding a visa renewal. He previously had permanent resident status in the United States, even though he had destroyed his Green Card after Donald Trump's first election in 2016.
According to a letter to Mr. Soyinka from the consulate, seen by AFP, officials cited State Department regulations that allow "cancellation of a nonimmigrant visa at any time, at its discretion."
Reading the letter aloud to reporters in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, the Nobel laureate said officials had asked him to bring his passport to the consulate so his visa could be canceled.
He joked that it was "a rather curious love letter from an embassy," while advising any organization hoping to invite him to the United States "not to waste their time." "I don't have a visa. I'm barred from entering," he continued.
The playwright has taught and received distinctions from major American universities, including Harvard and Cornell.
The Trump administration has made visa cancellations a key part of its crackdown on immigration, particularly targeting students who speak out about Palestinian rights.
Contacted by AFP, the US embassy in Abuja declined to comment.
Ugandan dictator "Idi Amin (Dada) was a man of international stature, a statesman, so when I compared Donald Trump to Idi Amin, I thought I was paying him a compliment," said the Nobel laureate for literature. "He behaves like a dictator, he should be proud of it," said the Nigerian author.
Dubbed the "Butcher of Africa," General Idi Amin, self-proclaimed head of state in 1971, was overthrown in 1979 after a reign of indiscriminate repression, the deaths of 300,000 to 500,000 Ugandans, and the expulsion of the entire Indo-Pakistani community. He fled to Libya and then to Saudi Arabia, where he died in 2003.
Asked about the possibility of returning to the United States, Mr. Soyinka replied: "How old am I?"
He did, however, leave the door open to an invitation if circumstances changed, but added: "I wouldn't take the initiative myself because there's nothing I'm looking for there. Nothing."
Wole Soyinka is the author of some sixty plays, poems, essays, critical studies, autobiographical stories ("Ake", "Ibadan, the years of chaos" etc.) as well as three novels ("The Interpreters", "A Season of Anomie" and "Chronicles of the Land of the Happiest People in the World").
He embodied a generation of Black English-speaking writers (such as Chinua Achebe) who, since the 1960s, had distanced themselves from the concept of "négritude," a movement launched by French-speaking writers such as Aimé Césaire from Martinique and Léopold Sédar Senghor from Senegal before the Second World War. Wole Soyinka preferred the idea of "tigritude."
Commentaires (12)
Longue vie Grand Monsieur!
That they rescind your visa in an honor to you !
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