'Ethnic cleansing' in Belfast

2004-01-12 13:03

London - Thandi, a black South African woman who lived in Soweto through the apartheid years, thought life would be different in Northern Ireland.

But one day, she told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, she opened her door to a group of men who swore at her, telling her to leave.

The woman, who asked for her surname not to be published, ran out of the back door leaving behind her children, aged 13 and two, who remained silent upstairs as the family's television, kitchen, fireplace and new electronic games console were smashed.

"I'm used to this coming from South Africa. I grew up to racism but I am fed up with it here. I wanted to breathe the fresh air here but then I came across racism again. It's a terrible experience," she said.

Thandi, who had come to Belfast to study, now plans to leave Northern Ireland.

Recent attacks on people of African and Asian origin in the Northern Ireland capital of Belfast are being seen as having a racist motivation, the Telegraph reported on Monday.

"Racist thugs" from the Protestant loyalist community were forcing members of ethnic minorities out of their homes as part of an apparently orchestrated plan to "ethnically cleanse" Belfast, the conservative daily said.

An estate agent had received threats of harm unless he stopped acting on behalf of black clients, it said.

One attack a day

Race crime has soared to around one attack a day, with attacks taking place primarily in south Belfast, where people of south Asian, Chinese and African origin have been targeted.

The attacks coincide with a grafitti campaign, with "Keep the Streets White" and "Whites Only" written on walls in the city in time-honoured Northern Ireland practice.

Dr James Uhomoibhi, a lecturer at Queen's University who moved to the province from Nigeria 17 years ago, believes that ethnic groups have become "more noticeable" since the 1998 agreement.

"Racism existed before but it's just that the violence of the Troubles has gone away. People need to be educated to learn to accept that because someone is a different colour it does not make them a threat," says Uhomoibhi.

Northern Ireland has a population of 1.7 million, which is 99.15% white, followed by 0.25% Chinese, who mostly arrived there in the 1960s. There are just 2 600 Africans. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA