Sudanese refugees urge Australia to apologise
October 10, 2007 (MELBOURNE) — Angry Sudanese mourners for a young beating victim Wednesday urged the Australian government to apologise for making them feel “unsafe.”
The government announced last week that Australia had closed its doors to refugees from Africa, accusing Sudanese in particular of being involved in crime and failing to settle into the community.
The president of Dandenong’s Sudanese Community Association of Australia, Samuel Kuot, said at the funeral in Melbourne that his people now feared more attacks.
Some 300 Sudanese gathered for the funeral of 18-year-old refugee Liep Gony, who was beaten to death two weeks ago. Two young men have been arrested and charged with his murder.
Meanwhile police said another Sudanese teenager had been attacked at Melton, west of Melbourne. They said the assailants used the 17-year-old’s mobile phone to send racist comments to his brother.
Kuot said Sudanese in Melbourne now felt unsafe after being singled out by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews as being involved in crime and having problems integrating into Australian life.
“The Sudanese community as well as the African community expect an apology from the minister,” Kuot said. “The community is angry. Many people are crying and emotional.
“We came to this country and expected it to be safe, and if you bring someone you need to protect them — you can’t turn against them.”
He said an apology from Andrews might help calm the situation.
“We feel unsafe and that more assaults will happen,” Kuot told reporters.
Three young women were taken to hospital after being overcome with grief at the funeral, the Australian Associated Press reported.
Gony’s mother Matha Ojulo told mourners that her son regarded himself as an Australian, not Sudanese.
She said the family had come from war-torn Sudan hoping to find a safe haven in Australia.
The government has cut the African proportion of its 13,000 a year refugee intake from 70 to 30 percent, saying this year’s quota has already been filled so no new African refugees will be accepted before next July.
Critics have accused the conservative government of attempting to play the race card ahead of an election later this year but Prime Minister John Howard has rejected the suggestion as “contemptible”.
(AFP)