Early last week unfounded rumours began to emerge that African communities had become a new hotbed for the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Guangzhou.
Soon after, health officials began door-to-door testing targeting African immigrants.
Landlords and hotels have evicted hundreds of Africans. Many, including community leaders, were forced into quarantine despite testing negative for the virus.
Hundreds now remain homeless as fears grow that cities like Guangzhou could face a second wave of the outbreak.
Various African ambassadors in China have written to the country’s foreign minister to voice complaints about “stigmatisation and discrimination”.
African diplomats in Beijing have met with Chinese foreign ministry officials and “stated in very strong terms their concern and condemnation of the disturbing and humiliating experiences our citizens have been subjected to,” Sierra Leone’s embassy in Beijing said in a statement Friday, adding that 14 citizens had been put into compulsory 14-day quarantine.
The diplomats reminded officials of their support of China during the pandemic, especially in the early days. Some African nations that had scores or even hundreds of students stranded during China’s earlier lockdown had sided with Chinese officials against calls for evacuations, and many African nations publicly praised Beijing for its virus response.
Ghana summoned the Chinese ambassador as Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey condemned the “inhumane” treatment, a statement said. The chair of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said he summoned the Chinese ambassador to the AU, Liu Yuxi, to express “our extreme concern.”
Kenya also has spoken out. A foreign ministry statement noted “unfair responses against foreigners, particularly of African origin,” from some locals in Guangzhou, especially landlords.
The statement said the Chinese embassy in Nairobi has told Kenya’s foreign ministry that authorities in Guangzhou “have been tasked to take immediate action to safeguard the legitimate rights of the Africans concerned.”
On Saturday, the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe dismissed the accusations in a tweet: “China treats all individuals in the country, Chinese and foreign alike, as equals.”
Guangzhou was the largest African community in Asia in the late 2000s, but over the last five years the numbers of Africans living in the city have dwindled. Many say they face frequent discrimination, visa restrictions and challenges in doing business.
I spoke to one evicted student from Nigeria who told me he had been forced into hiding.
“I am running [from the police] because of the way they are testing people and claiming that the person has a sickness, bringing all sorts of injections,” he said.
“They are going to houses and bringing people out, keeping them in hotels. I am just hiding and living by the grace of God.”
