The Antigua and Barbuda government is likely to grant legal status to refugees from Africa currently on the island.
Africans, mainly from violence-stricken Cameroon arrived in the twin island nation On December 28, via chartered flights organized by Abuja-based FastFlyLinks Travel and Tours.
The passengers, over 250 of them altogether claimed they were coaxed into believing that once they get into Antigua and Barbuda, they would be placed on a connecting flight to eventually get to their final destination; the United States of America.
The chartered flight they say cost them a whopping US$5,000 per person—the average Cameroonian earns 460,000 Central African CAF francs a month, equating to about US$750.
Some have said they are escaping a harrowing situation in Cameroon where a civil war has been raging for the last six years.
The Antiguan government said last week that arrangements were being made to repatriate them to their homeland but these men and women have been crying out for asylum.
It was stated on radio yesterday that sending them back to Cameroon will result in their deaths after having seen most of their families executed during the ongoing conflict there.
But the government said the Africans may be able to stay in the country.
Information Minister Melford Nicholas said “The Cabinet was informed that the visitors remaining in Antigua can be located in several small hotels and guest houses across the island. An offer to return them to their country is to be made, though many are likely to choose to stay, it was reported. Some arrangements may likely be made to ensure that their status is legal,”
The notes said that the Cabinet examined the circumstances under which the Antigua Airways flights were conceived and originated.
I think the country need to pardon them and allow them seek asylum. It’s a pity and they need to allow them stay by granting them legal status. They are humans as we’re. Let’s put ourselves in their shoes.
Grant them asylum or let them move to other areas sending them back when u already know there is a crisis in thier county and they could be killed is so inhumane
These Africans are not bona fide refugees. They took the flight hoping to settle in the US to better their economic situation.
Antigua is presently plagued with humongous economic problems. Public servants and pensioners are not paid on time. The Gaston Alphonso Browne’s maladministration is among the ten (10) most indebted countries on earth. Gaston, by giving refugee status to these troubled Africans, is further dumbing down the lives of the natives.
This specific policy defies common sense. Only high corruption and unbridled greed by officialdom can do that.
These hapless Africans were duped into thinking that Antigua was just a transit point to get to their eventual destination, the US. To their chagrin, they found themselves stuck in Antigua hungry, penniless, homeless and abandoned.
Just before the Gaston Browne’s administration announced that the recently arrived Africans would be given legal status in Antigua, they emphatically announced that they were going to repatriate them. This shows that this government makes policies at the whims and fancies of the irascible Gaston.
Just like the Choski’s debacle, Gaston has found himself entangled in international controversy and scandal.
Send them back to their country. If they die, they die.
Ya really Dominican Boi. And you said so much, in tears, in support of the similarly war torn Ukraine refugees. That’s how ‘we’ roll, we get a little comfort and ‘we’ turn on our own people. Not good at all.
“And you said so much, in tears, in support of the similarly war torn Ukraine refugees”
I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve NEVER commented about the Russia & Ukraine situation EVER. Not on here and not in person. Please stop making up sh*t for likes. But just so we’re clear, I don’t support Ukraine, nor have I ever supported Ukraine. At the same time, that doesn’t mean I’m pro-Russia. But the exact same thing I said about these Africans also applies to those Ukrainian refugees – if they die, they die.
Have a nice day.
Also, they’re not my people so I couldn’t care less what happens to them
They Are Your People, but that’s how ‘we’ roll. For expediency we roll to the white side, but Africans are the People of every human being on this earth, hence some turn against their own mothers and fathers sometimes.
You are very cold. If you were in that situation, is that what you would desire? They are human beings just like you. What you won’t wish for yourself, don’t wish it for someone else. Don’t be so callous.
Keyword is “if”. Luckily, I’m not in that situation so there’s no point of me even imagining I’m in their position, but “if” I was, I definitely wouldn’t be doing what they do
Isn’t that how we lost a WHOLE continent helped by those id10ts.
Let the UN or some humanitarian organization intercede on the Africans’ behalf.
Dominica Bwoi, every human life is sacred. Don’t allow your emotions to get the better of you my brother. We should have some compassion for these people. We can’t continue to live in this post empathy world. Today for me tomorrow might be your turn. We all belong to one race, the human race.
Too many black COLLABORATORS in white-supremacy .. does any issue look like we need your help, we don’t need you, hold your side.
So you mean to tell me there was no other country on the african continent that would have been much cheaper and easier to find refuge in for $5,000? These people are not “refugees”, they are economic migrants. Same as the hatians that will come to Dominica as a stepping stone to get to the United States, because Dominica too small for them, they have their sights set high on the big old USA
No to your 1st question, because Europe and U.S have devastated the whole continent. Same for the people from most of Eastern European countries, so poor they are all over the EU as refugees, BUT THEY BLEND IN, you don’t even notice because mainstream media don’t tell you and don’t report on them. Boat loads from China have been intercepted in Gulf of Mexico. It’s a failed system of cheap labor, it can’t fix the world and still need from them, it can only take from the poor countries. So voila!
The chartered flight they say cost them a whopping US$5,000 per person—the average Cameroonian earns 460,000 Central African CAF francs a month, equating to about US$750.
how they refugees and affording a us $5500 flight? awa plus the flight left from Nigeria. so thats a safe country. they have already broken international law where u claim asylum in the first free country you get to . which would have been Nigeria
this just going to open the flood gates. the people smugglers was just testing the waters. now that Antigua have caved and accepted this then the smugglers are just gonna keep sending them and making money
The African People are also indigenous to these islands, lier/tiff Columbus met them here. At least give them asylum.
Yes that has been researched and verified. Our great ancestor Ivan Van Sertima in his book “They Came Before Columbus” which should be read by every human being has educated us about the tools, agriculture, corn/maize, goard/calabash, tips of spears etc etc that are exactly the same, called by the same name as in west Africa. He also unearthed bones of Africans found in St. Croix dating back to 1100 AD. We have to reach out to our ancestors, they have dug out, corrected the info for us.
This is literally human trafficking.
Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud, coercion or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.