They were subjected to inhuman treatment
Foreign students in Ukraine caught between the ordeal of war and racism
Foreign students in Ukraine... a double ordeal.
From the source
picture
Three days after Russia invaded Ukraine, an African student, Zachary Ogonogwa, was trying to reassure herself that life was going on in the halls of her university.
This student, who is studying medicine, was waking up early as usual, and combing her hair, but she was alerted to the bitter truth, when the first mortar shell exploded inside the university campus.
She speaks from Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine just 30 miles from the Russian border where the university is located. “It was as if my heart had stopped beating, and I was thinking, is this real?”
Overseas students represent one-sixth of this university's students, most of them from India and sub-Saharan Africa. Sumy State University is located a stone's throw from Russia, which means that the closest point for them to get out safely from the country is hundreds of miles west or south at the borders of Poland, or Moldova, Or Hungary, or Romania.
When the students began discussing how they escaped in groups on WhatsApp and Telegram, another fear hit them: discrimination against foreigners, which some students say is practiced against some blacks in Ukraine.
The students were frightened by reports of violence against foreigners, especially Africans, Arabs and Asians, which made them trapped between two ordeals: war and racism.
The reason is the color of their skin
There have been reports of a black mother and her child being forced to give up their seats on the train to white people.
And another report of a young black man being beaten, after waiting for hours in line in sub-zero temperatures.
A group of terrified black African students repeatedly refused entry to a safe haven the Ukrainian government had prepared for the population, and crossed hundreds of miles in search of other exits.
These were among the accounts that Nigerian nationals reported to their consular staff.
Indian national newspapers published reports of students who said they had been severely beaten by Ukrainian and Polish border guards.
Dozens of similar frightening incidents began spreading on social media.
The reports were part of the reason Ogunogwa was reluctant to flee early, choosing instead to stock up on food supplies and take shelter in the student dormitory.
When the students began whispering to one another that machine gun fire was being heard in the streets, she realized that she had no chance of leaving.
Reports of abuse
Nine days after Russia began bombing Ukraine by air, land and sea, more than a million people have fled across international borders to safety.
Among them are tens of thousands of Africans who were swept away from their homes by civil wars.
While the largely flooded neighbors have welcomed the refugees flocking to their borders, the African Union has expressed alarm at widespread reports of African nationals being beaten, pushed off trains, or simply not given permission to cross the border.
"Reports indicate that Africans are being subjected to unacceptable discriminatory treatment, which is a shocking form of racism and a violation of international law," the African Union said in a statement.
There are allegations of racist dealings by Ukrainian, Polish and Hungarian border guards against Africans, Arabs and Asians.
“We hear about racist practices going on at the Polish border,” Ogunogwa says. “We who are trapped here are worried, because we might have this ethnic problem when we finally get to the border, and it would be really bad if that happened after all the ordeal we are going through right now.” ».
Like about 10 other stranded African students, Ogunogwa says the presence of international media or, ideally, UN officials, would guarantee their right of safe passage across the Ukrainian border.
A history of racial discrimination
Ironically, Ukraine has a long history of ethnic diversity, along with a history of racial discrimination.
Many African countries had good relations with both Russia and Eastern European countries, dating back to the Cold War, when the newly independent states of Russia were largely allied with the Soviet bloc against the former West African colonizers.
In recent decades, Ukraine has been seen as a less expensive alternative to Western Europe and the United States, making it a good destination for students from all over Africa and India.
Now, in the besieged cities, there are about 20,000 Indian students, while the number of students from Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt is as high as 16,000.
As news reached on March 3 that Russian forces had captured Ukraine's first major city, Ogunogwa said she and her fellow foreign students felt their morale deteriorated.
But Ogunogwa, who has ventured briefly into town twice to fetch food and water, says that after there were daily gun battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces, the city's streets are now empty and the scenery is chilling — and both residents and students believe any escape attempt will be Too serious.
Local newspapers reported that starving Russian soldiers were looting shops and homes in the area.
After another night of heavy bombardment, Ogunogwa said the water supply continued to run well for only two days.
But she finds solace with fellow international students, sharing hopeful news and funny memes as they try to keep their spirits high.
The university's Nigerian Students' Union made a video appeal for all African students to be safely evacuated, and students from Angola to Zambia have been sending it to their friends, family and consular officials.
Ogunogwa says her only hope is to reach a western border town safely once the fighting subsides, and she prays that officials at the border will not stop her because of the color of her skin.
The fire of war and racism in Europe
Nigerian lawyer Ibrahim Omar says he barely slept after hearing about the war in Ukraine. 8,000 miles away, his 19-year-old son Osman, who studies at Dnipro University, fled after his dormitory came under fire.
The family raised money to buy a train ticket for him to travel to Poland.
But when he got there five days later, the saddest news came of him.
“We were happy when we learned that my son had arrived at the border safely, but he called me back saying that Polish officials only select white people, and they are allowed to enter Poland, and that black people are never allowed in,” Omar says.
Omar's relatives organized another round of fundraising for their son to go to Romania, but that country also refused him entry.
“At this moment, the boy was crying, and I was crying, while his mother has been crying since the outbreak of the war,” Omar says. But in the end, his son managed to cross the Hungarian border.
"We sent these sons abroad to study because of the problems we face with our universities here, but now we are grieving war and racism in Europe," he says.
The tone of racism in the Western media
Accusations of ingrained racism from Europeans extend beyond Ukraine to include all of Europe, in the way Western media talk about the war.
Al Jazeera English anchor Peter Dube was heavily criticized for his comments about Arabs and North Africans in his report on Ukrainian refugees, and the network later apologized for his comments.
“What is surprising is that just by looking at them, by the clothes they are wearing, you think that these are, middle-class, rich people,” he says, referring to Middle Eastern and North African Arabs. You are still in a big war, these are not people trying to get away from areas in North Africa, they are like any European family living next to you.”
In other cases, this racist tone extended to feed the calls to the Western world about the relief of Ukraine, the "white western state." Speaking of his countrymen, "It is very touching for me to see Europeans with blond hair and blue eyes being killed every day by Putin's missiles and helicopters."
Ukraine's foreign ministry initially dismissed allegations of racism by border officials, calling them "Russian disinformation."
But as the number of reported incidents continued to increase, and the backlash that followed, which was particularly fierce on social media, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on March 3 that it had set up an emergency hotline specifically for African and Asian students.
• In recent decades, Ukraine has been seen as a less expensive alternative to Western Europe and the United States, making it a good destination for students from all over Africa and India.
• 20 thousand Indian students, in addition to 16 thousand students from Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt, distributed in the besieged Ukrainian cities.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news