Africans in Ukraine are complaining of racist treatment in their quest to escape the war, saying they are being blocked from boarding trains and prevented from crossing borders to neighboring countries for safety.
They are documenting their experiences on social media, posting and voicing videos from train stations and border points using the hashtag #AfricansinUkraine.
Anywhere from 300 to 1,000 African students are still in the country, activists say, and they continue to send videos asking for help. Some of them have nothing, not even passports.
In the West, the condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been swift and unequivocal. Many African states, on the other hand, have been reluctant to take sides in the conflict.
There have been many comments about Africans’ reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the horrific violence it has unleashed on Ukrainians and the humanitarian catastrophe it has created.
Many people have been aghast at what they see as the moral failure not just of African governments, but also of individual Africans, to outrightly condemn Russia for its clear and unwarranted aggression, as well as its imperial and colonial designs on another people’s land, with which they should be all too familiar.
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