By Lachlan Carmichael 

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday added six African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people, and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list.

Chad, Eritrea, Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in the annual report, which analyzed efforts in 173 countries to fight trafficking in humans for forced labor, prostitution, military service and other reasons.

Staying on the blacklist list are US allies Saudi Arabia and Kuwait but also Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, and Syria, according to the State Department report for 2009.

Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria, and Moldova. Read More in AFP