Coronavirus: African nations demand answers from China over mistreatment of their citizens in Guangzhou

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Coronavirus: African nations demand answers from China over mistreatment of their citizens in Guangzhou

4:14 CAT | 12 Apr 2020

Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey says she was briefed on the “inhumane treatment being meted out to Ghanaians and other African nationals” in China. Photo: HandoutGhana’s Foreign Affairs

Chairman of African Union Commission calls for ‘immediate remedial measures’ after Africans are racially targeted following investigation into Covid-19 infections in city’s Yuexiu district
‘I regret and highly condemn this act of ill treatment and racial discrimination,’ Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey says

African countries have issued angry protests to Beijing in response to accusations of mistreatment of their citizens, including forced testing for Covid-19, in the south China city of Guangzhou.

On Saturday, Moussa Faki Mahamat, a former prime minister of Chad and chairman of the African Union Commission, summoned Liu Yuxi, China’s ambassador to the union, to “express our extreme concern at allegations of maltreatment of Africans in Guangzhou” and called for “immediate remedial measures”.

Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone have also written to Beijing or summoned its ambassadors to ask what steps the Chinese government was taking to protect African immigrants.

Those calls came after it was reported that Africans in the Guangdong provincial capital were being targeted after authorities there investigated a possible series of community transmissions of the coronavirus after five Nigerians with links to the same restaurant tested positive for Covid-19.

The reports said African residents were being forced out of their homes and turned away by hotels.

In a letter to China’s foreign affairs ministry on Friday, the Chinese ambassadors of several African nations said that while they appreciated the good relationship between China and Africa, they were concerned that Africans had been “singled out for compulsory testing and quarantine”.

This, they said, had “no scientific or logical basis, and amounts to racism towards Africans in China”.

“The Group of African Ambassadors in Beijing immediately demands the cessation of forceful testing, quarantine and other inhuman treatments meted out to Africans in Guangdong province in particular and the whole of China,” it said.

African students at Sun-Yat Sen University in Guangzhou were among those made to undergo a nucleic acid test, despite the fact that they had no recent travel history, the letter said.

However, Yang Rihua, deputy director general of Guangdong’s public security department, said on Sunday that all foreigners in Guangdong had to take a Covid-19 test and comply with other epidemic control measures.

Those who resisted would be punished, and possibly deported, he said.

Guangzhou mayor Wen Guohui said on Sunday that there were currently 30,768 foreigners living in the city, of whom 4,553 were Africans.

Within the foreign community, 4,600 people were considered as being at high risk of contracting the coronavirus and had been placed under observation pending tests, he said.

In that regard, both foreigners and Chinese nationals were treated exactly the same, he said.

Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, said he had spoken to Chinese ambassador Zhou Pingjian about his “extreme concern at allegations of maltreatment of Nigerians in Guangzhou” and called for an immediate intervention by Beijing.

On Friday, Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, told Zhou he was “upset about what’s going on”.

“I showed him the video clip that had made the rounds. He promised to look into it and get back to my office on Tuesday,” he said.

In a video of the meeting posted by Gbajabiamila on Twitter, the speaker is heard saying: “I’m almost undiplomatic in the way I am talking, but it is because I am upset about what’s going on.”

Zhou said Beijing took the matter “very seriously”, and he would report back on Tuesday.

Today I met with the Chinese🇨🇳 Ambassador to Nigeria on the disturbing allegation of ill treatment of Nigerian citizens in China. I showed him the video clip that had made the rounds. He promised to look into it and get back to my office on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/9SUxH0rI7X

— Femi Gbajabiamila (@femigbaja) April 10, 2020

In West Africa, Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said she had been briefed on the “inhumane treatment being meted out to Ghanaians and other African nationals in the People’s Republic of China with regards to the Covid-19 outbreak”.

“I regret and highly condemn this act of ill treatment and racial discrimination,” she said.

The coronavirus investigation in Guangzhou centred on the city’s Yuexiu district, which is known as “Little Africa” for the thousands of immigrants from across the continent who live, work and study there.

Video footage of Africans being maltreated in the wake of the investigation were widely circulated on social media.

African diplomats met Chinese foreign ministry officials, including the head of its African affairs division, in Beijing on Thursday to register their concerns.

The Republic of Sierra Leone’s embassy said in a statement that representatives of African ambassadors stated in “very strong terms, their concern and condemnation of the disturbing and humiliating experiences our citizens have been subjected to”.

Kenya’s foreign ministry said it had officially “expressed concern about these developments and is working with the Chinese authorities to tackle the matter”.

Meanwhile, the director general of Kenya’s health ministry, Dr Patrick Amoth, said on Saturday that his government was in talks to ensure that Kenyans in China were being properly protected and that their rights were not being violated because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The United States has also spoken out on the issue, advising African-Americans to avoid the Guangzhou metropolitan area.

“African-Americans have reported that some businesses and hotels refuse to do business with them,” the US consulate in Guangzhou said.

China’s foreign ministry acknowledged that there had been some “misunderstandings” with the African community.

But ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday that: “We treat all foreign nationals equally in China. We reject differential treatment, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination.”

My Office invited the Chinese Amb to the AU,Mr Liu Yuxi, to express our extreme concern at allegations of maltreatment of Africans in #Guangzhou+called for immediate remedial measures in line with our excellent relations.The African Grp in #Beijing is also engaging with the govt pic.twitter.com/NEBStdOCeK

— Moussa Faki Mahamat (@AUC_MoussaFaki) April 11, 2020

Video:
Nigerian Consulate distributing food to Nigerians sent out of their home in Guangzhou China.#CoronaVirusUpdate #CoronaOutbreak #ChinaMustExplain #COVIDー19 @NigeriaGov pic.twitter.com/uiE00WCxsA

— Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (@nidcom_gov) April 11, 2020

Invited the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Zhou Pingjian to communicate @NigeriaGov‘s extreme concern at allegations of maltreatment of Nigerians in Guangzhou, #China and called for immediate Chinese Govt. intervention. 🇳🇬🇨🇳#StayHomeSaveLives #COVID19 @DigiCommsNG @NigeriaMFA pic.twitter.com/OXhbkXoQWf

— Geoffrey Onyeama (@GeoffreyOnyeama) April 9, 2020

China is denying Africans access to their houses and hotels in the country, claiming they are doing this to curb the spread of Coronavirus. So many Africans have been rendered homeless on the streets of China because of this. pic.twitter.com/EStj3Pmatm

— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) April 8, 2020

Cruelty In China:
Kenyans among Africans ejected from homes in Beijing
Africans are denied access to supermarkets, public transport
Kenyans affected have been forced to sleep in the cold#Tonight @YvonneOkwara pic.twitter.com/Rqa8FEZyRM

— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) April 9, 2020

#ChinaLiedPeopleDied
3 🇳🇬 in Guangzhou passed test and were uninfected. They were forcibly taken away from the hotel by 🇨🇳 epidemic prevention personnel for quarantine, and their passports were collected.
The staff of 🇳🇬 consulate in Guangzhou came and grabbed their passports. pic.twitter.com/lsyxUsx6el

— Lotso🧸 (@faustushk) April 11, 2020

The Guangzhou consul general encouraging and assuring the stranded Nigerians. Leadership by example clearly seen here. pic.twitter.com/SZGREqOrBp

— Mazi OKECHUKWU (@kenterprenuer) April 11, 2020

Here are some Some African elders in Guangzhou trying to reason with the Chinese authorities. As of now the authorities have declined the suggestion of stopping the hotel and house evictions of African Foreigners. Let’s pray for our people in China 🇨🇳. #SomeoneTellChina pic.twitter.com/EsECqW6Qo7

— UGAMAN #STAYHOME 🔱🔱 (@Ugaman01) April 9, 2020

Many of my African friends that have never left China are currently under lockdown in Guangzhou .All Africans have been banned from hotels. Now some have no place to stay and are living in the streets. The Nigerian government is organizing evacuation for its citizens. pic.twitter.com/q0SOInR6os

— DCmei (@DCmei) April 9, 2020

Black people who arrived from their country to Guangzhou China, after 15 days of quarantine,can’t live in the hotel,can’t rent an appartment and not allowed to enter certain communities.Nobody deserves to be denied a place to stay during this pandemic .@_AfricanUnion @BBCAfrica pic.twitter.com/ucRpAkao5F

— kiddo Amdu 🇪🇹💎 (@KidistAmdu) April 9, 2020

Just received this from Guangzhou.
The picture is becoming clearer.
This unnamed Nigeria consulate official really did us proud.
More updates as I receive them. pic.twitter.com/KezrAdKbQ2

— Ndu Akabua (@AkabuaNdu) April 10, 2020