The United Nations estimates that more than 800,000 people fled Ukraine following Russia’s attack last week. However, many foreign nationals trying escape have described racism, discrimination, and abuse. They claim they were turned away at the border and bus stations, while Ukrainians were welcome with open arms. We speak with one student from Africa who documented his experiences on Twitter using the hashtag #AfricansInUkraine. Alexander Somto Orah from Nigeria says that the discriminatory treatment he received and other African students was started at Kyiv’s train station and continued at the border to Poland. “We started protesting and telling them they have to let us go, that this is rubbish. They take in a hundred Ukrainians, and then they take in two Africans. It doesn’t make sense, because there are more Africans there than Ukrainians at the border,” Orah recalls. “So we started pushing, and the police cocked their guns and pointed at us guns and told us that they’re going to shoot us.” Orah eventually made his way to Warsaw and is now helping other students to cross.
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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
According to the United Nations, over 800,000 people fled Ukraine following Russia’s attack last week. However, many foreigners trying to escape have reported racism, discrimination, and abuse. They claim they were turned away on buses and at border while Ukrainians were welcome with open arms. India’s government has dispatched ministers to Ukraine’s border with Poland after people from India seeking to cross from Ukraine to Poland reported they were told to go to Romania instead. Many Black citizens from several African countries reported that they were also expelled from Poland. According to some estimates, 16,000 African students were studying in Ukraine.
Tuesday Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Russia’s invasion had, quote, “affected Ukrainians and non-citizens in many devastating ways,” and said, quote, “Africans seeking evacuation are our friends and need to have equal opportunities to return to their home countries safely.”
Several African governments also condemned the racism Africans in Ukraine faced while trying to escape, with the African Union calling the treatment a “breach of international law.”
On Tuesday, Democracy Now! Somto Orah, a 25-year-old Nigerian student, reached him after he had reached Warsaw in Poland. He described the discriminatory treatment he and other African students faced as they tried to flee, starting at the train station in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
ALEXANDER SOMTO ORAH: In Kyiv (the capital), the first discrimination was made at the train station. I was trying to enter, and they were telling us it’s only women and children. They only picked white children and women. When the first train left, the second arrived, and they repeated the same thing. We now asked them, “What do you mean by women and children? We don’t see you taking any Black women. If you mean white women or children, it is at least being truthful. But telling us women and children and not taking African women along is totally rubbish.” So we started shouting and started telling them, “Nobody is going to leave here if dishonest to their words.” So, they asked us, “Where are the African women?” We started showing them the African women and children, and they were able to board.
Another train to Poland arrived. I jumped in the train with two Africans. I was in the cabin when they called the police. The police arrived and told us to get off the train. They dragged us outside and informed us that the train going to Poland was primarily for Ukrainians. We would need to wait for another train in the night. They arrived and informed us that the train was not going to Lviv because that is the border city with Poland. So we copied the train number and sent it to — my friend copied. It was copied by me, and my friend copied it and sent it to my friend, who is Ukrainian. The girlfriend told him that “This train is going to Lviv. Don’t listen to them. Jump in.” The train was about to leave. We jumped in. They were already trying closing the door. We told them, “You either open the door, or you push us on the way.” So they have no other option than to open the door. We went in and were the only Africans on the train.
When we got to Lviv, the whole train going — the first train came in, and they told us it’s only Ukrainians, women and children only, and they usually pick more white people than Black people. We shouted again. So, when the second train came, we have to push the whole white — African women and children to the front so that they are — so they were able to take them. We had no choice but to search for a taxi to take us to the border. We reached a barricade, which was only 30 minutes from the border. And the barricade told us that — the soldiers there, with the police there, separated us. They said, “Foreigners go to this side. The Ukrainians go to the other side.” So, I was going. I asked some people there, “How long have you been here?” One said three days. The other one said that it had been two days. I was like, “No, I cannot endure this. I have to find a way.”
So, the next morning, we protested and said that they had to let us go. They take in hundreds of Ukrainians, and then they take in two Africans. It doesn’t make sense, because there are more Africans there than Ukrainians at the border. So, we pushed — we started pushing, and the police cocked their guns and pointed at us gun and told us that they’re going to shoot us. We told them that “We are students. We just want to get home. We don’t take lightly the possibility of one person being shot here. There are many of them. I don’t think all of them can kill us.” The police came in and drove with speed, parked in our front, brought out gun like the soldiers and told us that they’re going to shoot. We told them, “We don’t care. We have to cross.” So, we started pushing over, pushing over. Before we know, all of us shouting “Yay!” We broke the barricade and started running across towards the border. Some of them began beating people with batons.
As we were trekking towards the border, Ukrainians helped us. It was very nice that they gave us food and water along the way. Only the officials were discriminating against us. That’s the law enforcement officers. After the whole night, they allowed the men to enter the building because there were only a few females left. It was very easy for us to cross. There was also no discrimination on the Poland side.
We want to continue learning. Nobody wants to return without completing their education. We want the world to understand that it is not right to ask the world for help while discriminating against Africans or committing war crimes. It was absurd. I expected people fighting in war to be more compassionate. I wasn’t expecting them to do such things.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Nigerian student Somto Orah speaking with Democracy Now! After fleeing Ukraine, he arrived in Poland and reached Warsaw. Special thanks to Democracy Now! Messiah Rhodes was the producer who reached out to him for this report. For radio listeners, you may go to democracynow.org to see the video and the B-roll we used to cover the words of Somto. It’s his own B-roll. It’s his own video of what took place on his journey.
Coming up, we talk about Russia’s invasion and President Biden’s State of the Union address with Filipino vice-presidential candidate Walden Bello and Branko Marcetic of Jacobin. Stay with Us
