Iran Press/ Europe: Alexander Somto Orah, 25, was among thousands of people crowding a Kyiv train station Friday, hoping to flee Ukraine amid the Russian offensive. He said he and his friends hoped to get to safety at the Polish border quickly but that officials wouldn’t allow the group of Africans to board trains out of the region.
“I was like, ‘You are picking only white people!’” Orah said. He said he and his friends briefly made it onto a second train headed to Poland but were quickly kicked off, with officials telling them “Ukrainians only,” NBC news reported.
Only a mather of color
“I said: ‘You say Ukrainians only, but I don’t see you checking passports. I see you picking white people only.’ The train was not filled before they left, but they never picked us.”
Orah is one of several African citizens living in Ukraine who have reported racist discrimination and abuse at the border. Videos on social media have shown officials appearing to threaten to shoot groups of African students, a woman shielding an infant from the cold, officials chasing groups of people and people reported to be stranded in Ukraine. Representatives from several African countries — Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Gabon — have condemned the reports, and the African Union said Monday that it was disturbed by the news.
“Reports that Africans are singled out for unacceptable dissimilar treatment would be shockingly racist and in breach” of international law, African Union officials said in the statement.
Russian operation in Ukraine continues into the seventh day. It began on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to enter Ukraine, following months of a heavy military build-up on the border. More than 600,000 civilians have fled Ukraine, according to the UN.
Putin says he had no other choice than to launch the military operation to stop the Ukrainian military’s interference in two eastern republics that have broken away from Ukraine. Russia perceives NATO’s eastward expansion as a threat.
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