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In addition to the coverage below, the strike
was reported on Indymedia www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/07/320040.html
,
BLINK www.blink.org.uk/pdescription
(on
of the main Black websites) GreenLeft http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/638/638p14d.htm 17
Aug; Black Looks - a UK based African women's site http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/08/a_group_of_ugan.html News Scotsman online http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=16&id=1693732005;
http://www.womeninlondon.org.uk/public/pub-0507.htm;
http://uganda.blogspirit.com/
a Ugandan anarchist website and other sites; Uganda
Sunday Vision Kyeyos* go on
hunger strike in Britain However, Uganda has welcomed them home. Internal Affairs Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda last week said, “If their appeals (for refugee status) have been heard and rejected, then the authorities there must have determined that they don’t have a case. In that case there is no basis for them not to return home.” Rugunda, who has just returned from Sweden, where he attempted to persuade Ugandan dissidents in the Scandinavian countries to return home, added, “They should have no fear. They will be protected like other Ugandans and residents of this country,” Rugunda said. Detainees Sophie Odogo and Enid Ruhango have been protesting with other Ugandan women against plans for their removal from the UK as well as over conditions at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre, Bedfordshire, where they are held pending their deportation, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. The
two were last Sunday taken to Bedford Hospital suffering the effects of
hunger. A
hospital spokesman said they were given fluids to “build up their
strength”. He described their condition as “very weak” but said they
would be discharged this week. Some
detainees at Yarl’s Wood began to refuse food at the end of July. The
Home Office would not comment on individual cases, but said applications
are considered on their own merit. One
of the protesters, Salima Sekindi, has been in the UK since 2000, but is
due to be returned to Uganda on September 13 as her asylum application has
been refused. She
claims she was raped and tortured in Uganda and fears further harm if she
returns. “We
want people to know about the conditions we are facing in Yarl’s Wood,
the way we are detained,” she said. “We
are not supposed to be in detention because we are just innocent people
who didn’t commit any crime,” she said.. A Home
Office spokeswoman said the allegations of inappropriate conditions at the
detention facility would be investigated. She
said detention was an essential part of protecting immigration controls
and is appropriate under some circumstances including if a person is
deemed likely to abscond. “All
asylum applications are considered individually on their merits by skilled
case workers,” she said. The
UK government grants asylum to those with a well-founded fear of
persecution under the terms of the 1951 Geneva Convention. . According
to the spokeswoman unsuccessful applicants have the right of appeal before
an independent adjudicator. “People are removed only if all appeals have been heard and dismissed. There is free legal advice available to everybody that claims asylum at all points of the process. This isn’t a quick perfunctory process by any means”, the Home Office spokeswoman said. ENDS *Ugandan word for people who go abroad to improve their lives. |