(With inputs from PTI)

India failed to deter xenophobic, racist attacks: African envoys

NEW DELHI: African envoys today severely criticized India for taking no measures to deter or to properly condemn the "xenophobic and racial attacks" against Africans in the country.They also said they plan to call for an independent investigation into the attacks by the Human Rights Council and other Rights bodies.'The Heads of African Mission Accredited to India' conveyed this criticism in a press statement dated late last week, after they held a special meeting called to discuss last Monday's savage attack on four students from Nigeria in the Delhi suburb of Noida.Last Thursday, India refused to categorise the attacks on Africans in Greater Noida as racial and said that pending an investigation it is not correct to draw a conclusion on "the nature and the reason" of these acts.The African envoys minced no words in calling the attacks racial."The meeting unanimously agreed that these accumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature," their statement said.The envoys also said they felt the attacks, especially the latest one in Greater Noida, were not condemned in full measure by the Indian government.The African Heads of Mission "...express their deep concern and also take note that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities."Considering such attacks have been happening for some years now, the envoys also criticized India for its inaction."They reviewed the previous incidents that have taken place in the past and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the Government of India," said the envoys' statement.Last week, the four Nigerian students were attacked during a candle-light march for a 17-year-old boy who died of a suspected drug overdose the week before last in Greater Noida. Residents alleged that Nigerians in the neighbourhood were selling drugs to young people.This attack follows a string of similar violence on people from Africa in the last two years, PTI reported. India is home to citizens of Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria and the Congo, among other African countries. Many of the attacks took place in Delhi and in Bengaluru, sparking outrage among the African community.On May 20 last year, Congolese national Masunda Kitada Oliver was killed in a brutal attack in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, triggering outrage by envoys of African countries, even as India assured them their citizens will be safe.A few Africans, comprising men from Nigeria and Cameroon and women from Uganda, Cameroon and South Africa were allegedly attacked in May last year in what was dubbed a racial crime, in Delhi's Mehrauli's area. At the time, Delhi police claimed the incidents were a fallout of arguments over loud music and drinking in public.Before that, four Africans were allegedly attacked by a mob at Byrathi in Bengaluru in March 2015, after locals were reportedly "annoyed" with them for creating "nuisance" in the area.