NAIROBI, Feb 28, 2022 (AFP) – African Union leaders voiced concern Monday at reports of mistreatment of Africans caught up in the Ukraine conflict and said such conduct would be “shockingly racist”.

Governments on the continent are scrambling to help their citizens who are among the hundreds of thousands of people trying to flee into Poland and other countries neighbouring Ukraine.

But the current chair of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, and African Union Commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat said they were “particularly disturbed by reports that African citizens on the Ukrainian side of the border are being refused the right to cross the border to safety”.

“Reports that Africans are singled out for unacceptable dissimilar treatment would be shockingly racist and in breach international law,” they said in a statement.

“In this regard, the chairpersons urge all countries to respect international law and show the same empathy and support to all people fleeing war notwithstanding their racial identity.”

They said that all people should enjoy the same rights to cross to safety whatever their nationality or racial identity, while commending efforts by African Union member states in trying to help their nationals in Ukraine to reach safety.

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