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International
-DW News
Poland,
Mar
01:
Three
Nigerian
students,
Joseph,
Eric
and
Francis,
were
among
the
tens
of
thousands
of
people
who
crossed
from
Ukraine
into
Poland
on
Monday.
Speaking
to
DW’s
correspondent
at
the
Polish
border
town
of
Korczowa,
the
three
said
their
journey
through
Ukraine
had
been
made
even
more
difficult
because
of
their
skin
color.
“There
is
a
lot
of
discrimination
going
on
there,”
Joseph,
a
computer
engineering
student,
told
DW.
“We
actually
had
to
beg
people
to
take
us
to
the
border
so
we
could
find
a
way
to
escape.”
They
are
not
alone
in
their
complaints.
A
number
of
Africans
trying
to
flee
Ukraine
after
Russia
invaded
last
Thursday
say
they
have
had
problems
getting
buses
or
trains
to
Ukraine’s
borders
because
they
were
black.
Complaints
that
Ukrainians
given
priority
Others
say
that
once
they
arrive
at
border
crossings,
Ukrainian
border
guards
are
prioritizing
Ukrainians
and
sending
others,
such
as
people
from
African
countries,
to
the
back
of
the
queue,
some
of
which
stretch
for
tens
of
kilometers.
That’s
the
experience
of
Kouadio
Simeon
from
the
Ivory
Coast.
Simeon,
a
recent
graduate
who
had
been
studying
in
the
heavily
bombed
northeastern
city
of
Kharkiv,
traveled
more
than
1,000
km
(620
m)
west
through
the
country
to
the
Ukrainian
city
of
Lviv,
some
74
km
from
the
border
to
Poland.
From
there,
he
and
his
friends
managed
to
get
on
a
bus
but
it
only
drove
them
about
a
dozen
kilometers
out
of
town,
he
told
DW.
“Then
we
walked
more
than
65
km
in
very
cold
temperatures,”
he
said,
to
get
to
the
Ukraine-Polish
border.
When
they
arrived,
Ukrainian
officials
didn’t
allow
them
through
to
the
Polish
border
post.
“The
situation
near
the
Polish
border
is
very
difficult,”
Simeon
said.
“We
arrived
today
but
foreigners
are
not
allowed
to
cross
the
border,
meaning
we
will
stay
here
[in
Ukraine]
in
the
cold,”
Simeon
told
DW.
The
area
around
Lviv
had
a
maximum
temperature
of
2
degrees
Celsius
(36
degrees
Fahrenheit)
on
Monday.
South
Africa’s
foreign
ministry
spokesperson,
Clayson
Monyela,
has
also
tweeted
that
South
African
students
had
been
having
problems
getting
across
the
border,
saying
they
were
“treated
badly”.
Happy
to
be
in
Poland
But
other
African
students
have
had
a
difference
experience
at
the
border.
Nineteen-year
old
Nigerian
medical
student
Sarah
Ajifa
Idachaba
told
DW
that
she
and
her
older
sister,
who
was
also
studying
medicine
in
Ukraine,
had
managed
to
escape
the
capital
Kyiv
and
had
arrived
safely
in
Poland
on
Sunday.
“During
the
journey,
it
was
okay
until
we
got
to
the
Ukrainian
border.
There
was
a
long
queue
and
we
spent
a
whole
day
at
the
border,”
Idachaba
said.
“We
had
our
fears
and
expectations
because
people
who
came
before
us
had
told
us
that
they
were
racially
profiled
and
not
allowed
to
go
through.”
But
upon
alighting
from
the
bus
and
going
through
passport
control,
the
two
students
were
allowed
to
continue
to
the
Polish
border,
she
told
DW
in
an
interview
on
Monday.
Idachaba
had
told
DW
last
Thursday,
the
day
of
the
Russian
invasion,
that
she
and
her
older
sister,
who
was
also
studying
in
Ukraine,
were
“in
a
panic”
because
they
didn’t
know
how
they
would
be
able
to
leave
the
country
and
start
making
their
way
home.
Nearly
a
quarter
of
the
more
than
75,000
foreigners
studying
in
Ukraine
are
African
—
with
the
largest
numbers
coming
from
Morocco,
Egypt,
Nigeria
and
Ghana.
Many
are
attracted
by
the
country’s
good
technical
and
medical
schools
combined
with
relatively
low
fees.
EU:
All
refugees
from
Ukraine
welcome
Ukraine
has
a
visa-free
regime
with
neighboring
European
Union
countries,
meaning
that
Ukrainians
can
pass
the
borders
without
having
to
hold
a
valid
visa
or
additional
documentation.
This
has
made
it
easy
for
Ukrainians
fleeing
the
Russian
invasion
to
leave.
Normally,
people
from
African
nations
have
to
apply
for
a
Schengen
visa
to
enter
EU
members,
Poland,
Romania
and
Hungary.
However,
the
EU
Commissioner
for
Home
Affairs,
Ylva
Johansson,
has
made
it
clear
that
the
borders
were
also
open
to
people
from
third
countries
who
lived
in
Ukraine
and
wanted
to
travel
onward
to
their
home
countries.
“Those
people
must
be
helped.
Moreover,
those
in
need
of
protection
in
the
EU
can
also
apply
for
asylum.”
The
Polish
government
has
tweeted
several
times
stressing
that
it
is
accepting
all
refugees
fleeing
war-hit
Ukraine
regardless
of
their
nationality.
Russia’s
invasion
of
Ukraine
has
triggered
the
biggest
displacement
of
people
in
Europe
since
the
end
of
World
War
2,
with
the
United
Nations
estimating
that
more
than
500,000
have
fled
the
country
in
the
five
days
since
Russian
President
Vladimir
Putin
order
troops
into
Ukraine.
Waiting
for
help
As
for
Sarah
Ajifa
Idachaba
and
her
sister,
they
are
just
hoping
to
soon
be
able
to
travel
home
to
Nigeria.
She
says
little
aid
has
come
from
the
Nigerian
government
so
far.
“We
are
footing
our
bills,
paying
for
our
accommodation
only
because
the
arrangements
made
by
the
Nigerian
embassy
[in
Berlin]
weren’t
sustainable,”
she
said.
“Luckily
for
us,
we
were
able
to
find
affordable
accommodation.
We
are
now
waiting
for
our
flights
to
Nigeria
this
week,”
she
said.
Max
Zander
in
Korczowa,
Poland,
contributed
to
this
article.
Edited
by;
Kate
Hairsine
Source: DW
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