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Punish Racism - Protect African Nationals in India - select commentary in Indian Media and a press release by Africa group head of missions in Delhi

29 May 2016

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Editorials from some Indian newspapers following racist attacks against African nationals in India and a release by Africa group head of missions in Delhi and urls for reports in Africa

Press Release by Africa Group Head of Missions - Regarding Killing of African Student on 20 May 2016

Daily News and Analysis - 26 May 2016

Editorial: Not seeing racism

African diplomats have lost patience over the recurring racist attacks against their nationals. India can no longer afford to see these as localised crimes

With African diplomats demanding that India take concrete steps against racism and Afro-phobia, India must move quickly at multiple levels to ensure that the situation does not snowball into a diplomatic row. A joint statement by African Heads of Missions has sought the postponement of the Africa Day celebrations organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The mission heads also threatened that they would ask their governments to forbid students from travelling to India until their safety can be guaranteed. Such a move would be damaging to India’s international stature. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has intervened and said that she has sought stringent action, including trial by a fast-track court, against those accused of murdering a 29-year-old Congolese national in Delhi. She stressed the point that it was an attack by “local goons†, even as her ministry emphasised that not all attacks on Africans were racist in nature. Despite the government’s attempt to delink racism and criminal actions, this does not pass muster. Too many incidents have happened in recent times and this is the first time that the African missions have leaned towards stronger measures.

Against the African diplomats’ demand for “appropriate programmes of public awareness that will address the problems of racism and Afro-phobia in India†, Swaraj has tweeted that “we will also launch a sensitisation program to reiterate that such incidents against foreign nationals embarrass the country†. The emphasis is on such incidents embarrassing the country when the need of the hour is to confront racist mentalities. Of course, no country likes to be told or lectured by foreigners about what it must do. Considering that it is their citizens on the receiving end, the African diplomats are justified in demanding that India take steps to address racism.

Moreover, the African diplomats are only echoing what many Indians have been demanding for long. Earlier this year, after a Tanzanian student alleged that she was stripped naked and paraded in Bengaluru, the state home minister claimed this was not a racist attack, but a response to another incident of drunken driving involving a Sudanese national. In crime after crime where the victims are Africans, the official machinery has had difficulty admitting that race was a factor in making them targets of violence. The statement by the African heads of missions also notes that “several attacks and harassment of Africans have gone unnoticed without diligent prosecution and conviction of perpetrators†.

Only a few incidents have captured media and public attention like last week’s murder, the Bengaluru stripping, and the 2014 attack on three African students on the Delhi metro. As the African diplomats have stated, most racist incidents are going “unnoticed†because the victims are not part of our social mainstream. For some years now, African students associations and even Indians hailing from the North-East have been complaining of wanton acts of racism and racist harassment on the streets. Anything about their appearance like the colour of the skin, the clothes they wear, their language, food habits, or social life, makes them a target. The allegations that the police do not take such complaints seriously merits more attention from the government. In February 2015, the home ministry had proposed to punish any “word, gesture or act intended to insult a member of a particular group or of any race†with a three-year jail sentence. Nothing has been heard since then. Though the government has repeatedly asserted that there would be “zero tolerance†whenever race crimes provoke outrage, the message has not filtered down either to the police or the public. Prejudices surrounding colour, caste and ethnicity are widespread in India and cannot be dispelled unless these are confronted frontally. The government is justified in its focus on controlling the diplomatic fall out of the latest incident, but it can no longer shy away from sensitisation programmes that hold a mirror to our racist mentality.

The Times of India - May 27, 2016

Editorial

Quell racism: India must ensure the safety and security of African nationals in the country

In what could turn out to be a serious crisis for India-Africa relations, the Group of African Heads of Mission in New Delhi has registered a strong protest against racial attacks on African nationals. The development comes on the heels of the recent murder of Congolese citizen Masonda Ketada Oliver in the national capital. Oliver was beaten to death by three men after a verbal argument over hailing an autorickshaw. African envoys threatened to boycott the Africa Day celebrations. They even said that they were mulling advising their home governments not to send new students to India, until their safety and security could be ensured.

Government has taken cognisance of the issue and deputed minister V K Singh to work with African envoys to reassure African students about their safety, but more needs to be done. Numerous cases of attacks on African nationals betray racial prejudice. The victims often complain that local police aren’t forthcoming in helping them. It’s this racist mindset that’s reflected in Goa minister Dayanand Mandrekar’s earlier comment that Nigerians are like cancer (he did apologise for his outrageous statement later) or former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti’s infamous raid against African nationals in the capital city.

At a time when government is planning to revitalise India-Africa relations, harassment and abuse of visiting African nationals can undo all the good work in the diplomatic field. Racism in 21st century India is simply unacceptable. There’s no denying that Africa is the future. Its middle class is burgeoning and it is one of the fastest growing regions of the world. This means there’s huge economic potential in India-Africa relations. However, racism continues to be an extremely sensitive issue for most African countries. Hence, if India wants to do serious business with Africa, it simply can’t tolerate racist attacks on African nationals here.

In this regard, special police cells to take care of African students’ security needs should be set up expeditiously in major cities. Other government authorities dealing with African nationals need to be sensitised accordingly. Plus, given that racism is a social problem, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would do well to talk about the issue in his next Mann ki Baat broadcast and impress upon people to treat visiting Africans with respect and dignity. This would also serve as the perfect launch pad for his scheduled Africa visits in the near future.

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The Telegraph, May 28 , 2016

Attacks on Africans in Delhi - ’I ran to every house. None moved, some laughed’

by Pheroze L. Vincent

New Delhi, May 27: Over a dozen Africans faced wildcat mob attacks in a south Delhi village last night, beaten with cricket bats, iron rods and bricks as they passed by in cars or auto-rickshaws or returned to their lodgings in the locality.

The violence in Rajpur Khurd, 5km from Qutb Minar, comes five days after a Congolese teacher was bludgeoned to death on a south Delhi street, lifting the lid off what is being perceived as everyday racism in Delhi and prompting African diplomats to threaten to boycott yesterday’s Africa Day celebrations.

Just as the police had refused to acknowledge the possibility of a racist element in the May 21 murder of Masonda Ketanda Olivier, 29, today too they claimed ignorance of the motive for last night’s attacks.

"We shall let you know when the motive is confirmed," said assistant commissioner of police Jimmy Chiram, who had picked up several young men from the neighbourhood this afternoon for questioning.

The attacks, which took place between 10pm and 11.30pm, left at least seven people injured, two of whom are in hospital. A young African whose nose was smashed and partially severed with an iron rod declined to give his name or nationality.

Unconfirmed reports suggested a possible motive by claiming the first attack was triggered by a fight over hiring an auto - the same reason the police had given for the murder of Olivier.

Kenneth Igbinosa, a Nigerian priest at the Christ Consulate

Church in nearby Fatehpur Beri village, was attacked just after he had dropped off two parishioners at Rajpur Khurd on his way home to Neb Sarai. With him were his wife Kate and their four-month-old son, Blessed.

"It was around 10.30. Six guys rushed out of Naveen General Store and started smashing my car with cricket bats. I stopped and asked what had happened," Igbinosa, who is about 30 and came to India in 2013, told The Telegraph .

"They yelled something in Hindi. Several others joined them and attacked me with sharp planks of wood. I got back in and drove off to save my wife and baby. They smashed my windscreen and rear screen as I drove to my brother Jason’s place (in Rajpur Extension)."

Igbinosa’s car had earlier been attacked and damaged in March, and he had been assaulted on a street last October by men harassing his sister.

His brother Ola Jason, actor and hairstylist, had left a gym in the area around 10pm to find two of his tires slashed. He was replacing them when he received a call from Igbinosa.

"I rushed to my place. My brother had cuts on his arms and his shirt was torn," Jason said."

He added that a Congolese man named Pierre, who was returning home from AIIMS after a bout of illness, was beaten up with bats and rods.

Jason, who was Olivier’s stylist, said the teacher’s death "hurts me every day because he was such a brilliant and nice guy" and added that someone could have been killed last night too.

Jason had come to India as a student and has acted in the Hindi films Dangal and Sultan, to be released this year. His Russian wife works in Delhi.

Ten African victims accompanied a police team of 30, led by assistant commissioner Chiram, around the village this afternoon, identifying their attackers’ homes. The police dragged out several young men amid scuffles between women from their families and policewomen.

Officers said this evening that none of the detainees had been arrested.

Ugandan beautician Shamila Nassazi, a Rajpur Khurd resident, identified two young men whom she accused of attacking her as she returned home in an auto after 10pm. She has a bruised leg.

"Some 10 or 15 guys stopped my auto and pulled my arms and clothes. When I began running, they chased me and hit me with iron rods. They wouldn’t say why - they were just shouting something," she said.

"I ran to every house. I told the women with folded hands, ’Please sister, help me’. None moved. They looked away and closed their doors, some even laughed at me," Nassazi said, pointing at a woman watching the police raid.

Asked by this reporter, the residents, mostly speaking Haryanvi, said they had seen or heard nothing last night. The area looked tense.

A shopkeeper claimed he had downed shutters at 11pm. Told that the attacks happened before that, he replied: "I closed at 9pm yesterday."

He added: "These Africans roam around naked and drunk late at night. We don’t know what happens on the streets at night."

A group of village elders standing nearby nodded in agreement.

Neither the police nor the families would reveal the detainees’ names. "We are questioning people to find out whether one gang or separate groups carried out the attacks," Chiram told this newspaper.

He declined to say how many Africans were attacked or how many suspects had been detained.

"We are collecting statements from the complainants and will file a case once we have gathered evidence," he said.

The African ambassadors who had threatened a boycott did eventually attend the Africa Day event, but some of them cautioned yesterday that their anguish at government inaction wasn’t assuaged.

"Africans have suffered so much here," Jason said. "Our cars are vandalised, some shops don’t sell to us. We are human beings: we were not created for you to come and stone us. If this goes on, we may leave this city or India itself."

Two suspects have been arrested for Olivier’s murder while a third is in hiding.

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SEE ALSO:

In India, Africans feel hounded by prejudice (May 22, 2016) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/In-India-Africans-feel-hounded-by-prejudice/articleshow/52380834.cms

‘Friendship hollow if Africans don’t feel safe in India’ (May 27, 2016)
http://www.asianage.com/india/friendship-hollow-if-africans-don-t-feel-safe-india-153

After African Heads of Mission warning, Indian FM vows action against racist attacks http://thebricspost.com/after-african-heads-of-mission-warning-indian-fm-vows-action-against-racist-attacks/

Africans in India living ’in fear’ after killing of Congolese teacher, envoys say http://mgafrica.com/article/2016-05-25-africans-in-india-living-in-fear-after-killing-of-congolese-teachers-envoys