Racism at Ukrainian Border: black people denounce racism against them as they try to flee
The fires of war and their weapons make no distinction between black and white. When a bomber fires, it does not reveal the victims’ identities before it occur. Ukrainian authorities, however, have decided to carry out an identity evacuation.
Not only did it get to the end of the line, but the New York Times reported on the mistreatment of African migrants who, like many other foreigners, were trying to escape the war inside Ukraine.
In an interview with the American newspaper, a number of Africans living in Ukraine said: They were stranded for days at crossings to neighboring EU countries, gathered in the cold without food or shelter, and were detained and beaten by Ukrainian authorities, who pushed them to long queues, while allowing Ukrainians to pass.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, at least 660,000 people fled Ukraine in the 5 days after the Russian invasion began, mostly Ukrainians, but some are students or migrant workers from Africa, Asia and other regions who desperately need to flee.
Chini Mbago, a 24-year-old Nigerian doctor living in the western Ukrainian town of Ivano Frankivsk, said: She spent more than two days stranded at the Poland-Ukraine border crossing in the town of Medeka, where guards allowed Ukrainians to cross and prevented foreigners.
She added in a shaking voice telephone interview: They beat people with sticks, they took off their jackets, slapped them, beat them, pushed them to the end of the line, it was horrible.
The African Union and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari have condemned the mistreatment of Africans fleeing Ukraine, following reports on social media that border guards prevented them from leaving, and other Africans reported being prevented from taking trains to the border.
The African Union said: Reports of Africans being targeted for different treatment are unacceptable, horribly racist and violate international law.
Anton Hirashchenko, Ukraine’s deputy interior minister, said: We are the first to release women and children, and foreign men must wait for the advancement of women and children.. We will release all foreigners unhindered…The same is true for blacks.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that there were more than 470,000 foreign nationals in Ukraine, including a large number of students and migrant workers abroad. At least 6,000 of them have arrived in Moldova and Slovakia alone over the past five days, many of them crossing into Poland with 300,000 people.
From border repression to persecution in Poland
African migrants barely breathed a sigh of relief after arriving in Poland and were assaulted by far-right activists. According to Al-hurra website, Polish police intervened, yesterday, to stop a group of far-right activists assaulting mostly African refugees.
The attack took place in the border town of Brechmessel, which hosts the largest number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland and thousands of African students and migrants in Ukraine.
