Zimbabwe, Botswana announce visa-free travel deal

Zimbabwe and Botswana are working on a bilateral deal to scrap visa requirements for each other's citizens.

They join the growing wave of African countries easing entry restrictions for visitors from the continent.

"The two of us have agreed because we are African. We should be able to walk into Botswana, walk into Zambia, walk into Kenya. Why should we restrict ourselves?" Zimbabwe's President Emmerson said on Thursday, following a discussion he said he had held with Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

"We impose constraints on ourselves which are more colonial than they are patriotic, so we agreed that he (President Masisi) himself on his side and myself on my side are going to instruct the relevant departments to ease these constraints of movement of people between our two countries".

Several African countries have recently introduced bilateral visa-free movement arrangements.

Botswana and Namibia, South Africa and Ghana, and Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are some of the African countries that have introduced reciprocal visa waiver agreements this year.

Rwanda has already eased visa restrictions for Africans, allowing visas on entry.

Seychelles, The Gambia and Benin allow visa-free entry to Africans, a policy currently under consideration by Kenya's government.