Kenya evacuates citizens as China severs diplomatic ties with Africa
In a bid to protect its citizens against the xenophobic attacks unleashed on them, the Kenyan government has announced plan to evacuate its citizens from China.
The evacuation was announced in a notice on Monday April 20, 2020, following the various reports, videos and pictures about Beijing’s xenophobic attacks on Africans.
The pictures and videos showed Africans including Nigerians and Kenyans sleeping on the cold streets of China.
This had prompted the the African communities in the diaspora and at home to condemn the abominable act and swing into action to rescue the stranded citizens in China.
The Kenyan officials have thus released a notice to call on Kenyans who are ready to purchase a ticket out of China via Guangzhou.
However, the notice came with conditions that Kenyans will be evacuated as long as they can pay their own ticket and that those Kenyans will have to prove they are free of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which means they will have to be certified by Chinese medical authorities.
Once they arrive in a country, they will be forced into quarantine for 14 days upon landing in Nairobi.
“If you are ready to travel under these conditions, fill the above QR code so that the bio-data reaches the Kenyan Embassy immediately,” the notice reads.
“Please be informed that the departure will be from Guangzhou on a date to be determined immediately. ” it adds.
It also provided the number of Mr. Kimoni Waweru, the deputy of head mission in Beijing to inquire from: +86600690463.
However Kenyans have suggested that the government should use the funds meant for the pandemic relief to have Kenyans flown back home.
“Our Embassy in China is a big let down. You can’t offer distressed Kenyans an evacuation at their cost! Arrange planes to lift our people. Pay from the Covid-19 fund. Kibaki ordered us to evacuate Kenyans from SA when they faced xenophobic attacks and we did”, Sen. Moses Wetangu’la tweeted
Africans have been mistreated by Chinese authorities imposing tight lockdown measures to prevent the virus from the country that is seen to be recovering from the deadly pandemic.
