Dar Aids delegates seek asylum in Australia

Dar es Salaam. Some Tanzanian delegates who attended last week’s high profile Aids conference in Australia are reportedly seeking asylum in that country, reports emerged yesterday.  

The Tanzanians are among 25 African delegates to the meeting, including counterparts from Uganda and Ethiopia, who have contacted the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) in Australia after the five-day conference held in Melbourne.

According to foreign media reports yesterday, the asylum seekers have all expressed fear of being persecuted by their respective governments back home.

Around 13,600 delegates from more than 200 countries around the world attended the event which was headlined by former US President Bill Clinton and most of them have apparently returned to their countries.

Yesterday’s report further indicated that the asylum seekers’ situation was uncertain, for their declaration have now rendered them practically homeless and authorities have put up in motels, backpacker hostels and rooming houses across Melbourne.

The Citizen sought to verify the claims yesterday from a government minister, Mr William Lukuvi who had also attended the Aids meeting and was told that the government has not received official reports yet of any Tanzanians seeking asylum in Australia.

However, Mr Lukuvi said, he was aware that certain NGOs operating in the country were staging campaigns at the latest Aids conference, seeking for attention and recognition for the work they do in Tanzania.

“Certain groups, sponsored by foreign organisations that were staging campaigns at the conference, were complaining that our government does not recognise them,’’ said Mr Lukuvi who is a minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office. One of the asylum seekers from Tanzania, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Australian-based news website ABC that he had received death threats for his work with people with HIV and albino children back home.

He alleged that the government won’t be able to guarantee his safety or offer him protection, so he wished to lodge his asylum application later this month.

Narrating his alleged ordeal to ABC, the delegate said: “I don’t have faith in my government for I don’t believe it can protect me against these people.” He added: “I have learnt that Australia has a good human rights record; that’s why I am seeking protection here.”

He further explained how he “narrowly escaped death” in March this year, when unknown people chased him as he drove home (not identified) after watching a soccer match.  “So, I got a very bad accident ... almost like dying. They wanted to kill me. After that crash, they disappeared completely because so many people came to give me help,’’ he told ABC in Australia.

An official at the ASRC in Australia told ABC that people who come from countries where their lives are threatened with violence and oppressive politics usually find a safe haven in the country.

 “We’ve had people in the past who have sought asylum and many have been granted their wish because their claims under the refugee protection were so strong,’’ said Ms Pamela Curr.