African migrants pitch tents in Paris
‘Better than Calais ... they give us food, doctors’
Hundreds of African migrants have set up camp in the heart of Paris after their efforts to cross the English Channel from Calais were thwarted.
About 500 people, mainly Sudanese, Eritreans and Ethiopians, have pitched blue and green tents on two sites, one on the banks of the Seine near Austerlitz railway station; the other near the Eurostar terminal at the Gare du Nord.
The first few tents appeared about a year ago, but the camps have expanded rapidly in recent weeks.
Bashir Suleiman, from the conflict-torn Nuba Mountains in Sudan, said he had returned to Paris from Calais. “It’s hard to cross the border and there are too many people in Calais,” said Suleiman, 36. “It’s better here. They give us food and a doctor comes around every two days. Many people here have come back from Calais.”
Henry John, 45, also from the Nuba Mountains, a remote, inaccessible area where Sudanese government forces reportedly dropped cluster bombs on civilian areas in February and March, said he had been in Paris for three weeks.
Asked about future plans, hi s smile faded and he shrugged. “We would like to go to Britain,” John said. “There are many Nuba people there. We can do any job. Any job at all.”
Both men were farmers in Sudan and speak English but no French. Metres from their tents under the Charles de Gaulle Bridge, schoolgirls were taking part in an outdoor dance class, showing little interest in the migrants.
John began his perilous journey after his house was flattened by a bomb.
“I was at home in our village with my wife and children when we heard the planes. We knew they would drop bombs so we ran. Our house was hit. Many people were killed and there were flames everywhere.” He pointed to a burn mark covering most of his forearm.
“We went to the house of our relatives in a village near ours,” he said.
“Then I heard the army thought I was a rebel fighter. I knew they would come for me.”
He left his wife and three children, aged between seven and 13, and travelled to the capital, Khartoum, by bus. He paid people traffickers $1,800 to drive him to Libya.
They dropped him in the Sahara and he walked for 13 hours. “My children could not have done that,” he said sadly.
He crossed the Mediterranean to Italy in a small boat with about 300 other migrants.
“It was very cramped,” he said. “If you stood up, they beat you and threatened to throw you into the water.” After reaching Italy, he took a train into France.
John, a Christian, is tormented by not knowing what has become of his family. “I have tried to phone them but the line has been closed,” he said, casting his eyes down. “If I go back, I am sure 100 per cent they will kill me.”