By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS
London : Keith Vaz, Britain’s senior-most Asian lawmaker, Tuesday urged the British government to ensure that Britain keeps its doors open to Asians fleeing the violence in Kenya.
His call to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband came amid the first evidence that large numbers of Asians have either left or are in the process of leaving strife-torn Kenya, where business establishments owned by them have been torched and looted.
While no estimates are immediately available either in Kenya or in London, there are reliable reports of many Asians having already fled to Arusha and Zanzibar in Tanzania and to Uganda. Many are said to be on the road to Uganda.
Kenyan Asians settled in Britain say this is not unusual in itself – Asians in East Africa tend to leave town just before elections in order protect themselves against any violence – but there are fears that the departure this time around may be a permanent one for some.
Vaz, who has been an MP since 1987 for Leicester East, a major settlement of Gujaratis from East Africa, said several of his constituents had asked him to convey their worries to the British government.
“I am asking David Miliband to ensure that Asians from Kenya can leave and visit Britain whenever they want to.
“They may just want to be here just to be out of it, and wait until things calm down in Kenya,” Vaz, who is chairperson of the parliament’s Select Committee on Home Affairs, told IANS.
“They don’t want to settle down in the United Kingdom.”
Vaz is particularly worried about the fate of Asians who are still stuck in the town of Kisumu, which saw the worst violence against Asian business establishments, and who are finding it hard to apply for a visa to visit Britain.
“They cannot go to Nairobi to apply for visas, and I am hoping that perhaps the government will provide online facilities for them to apply,” Vaz said.
The city of southeastern Leicester and the London suburb of Wembley are two of the largest settlements of Asians – mostly Gujaratis and Punjabis – from Kenya outside the east African country.
There are now mounting fears for their safety amid the first anecdotal evidence of Asians fleeing Kisumu.
A British woman running a charity for Kenyan AIDS orphans and widows said her husband, who was stuck in Kenya, had reported Asians fleeing to Uganda by road.
Janet Desmond-Weyama, who founded the Bumala Trust that is based in the southern England town of Newton Abbot, said she is getting daily text updates from her husband Peter Weyama.
“He is on the main road leading to Uganda which is full of Asians fleeing the country. The road is heavily patrolled by police and military and they need feeding, so they just walk in and take what they want,” she told a local paper.
Well-to-do Gujaratis settled in Wembley told IANS that the situation in Kenya was a major source of concern in the community – known by their famous surnames denoting industry, thrift and wealth, notably Patel and Shah.
“I was at a funeral at the weekend, and the talk among the Shahs was that Asians will face problems if [opposition leader] Raila Odinga comes to power,” said Madhu Patel, who left Nairobi for Britain several years ago.
The violence was perpetrated by members of the Luo tribe, who are the majority in Kisumi and voted overwhelmingly for Odinga, the challenger to President Mwai Kibaki.
After the election result was announced Sunday amid widespread reports of fraud, Luos went on the rampage, burning and looting shops, houses and a hotel owned by members of the president’s Kikuyu tribe or Kenyan Asians.
Patel said he was in constant touch with his brothers and friends in Nairobi, but that they were safe because they were in the capital city.
“Of course we are worried, but they decided to settle there you know. At the moment, they say they are trying to stay put at home,” Patel said.
Although the scale of migration from Kisumi is unknown, the first disturbing reports paint the portrait of a peaceful community in distress.
Kenyan newspapers say many Asians have fled in chartered flights to the capital Nairobi and to neighbouring Uganda – ironically, the very country that expelled its thriving Asian community in the early 1970s – some en route to Europe or the US.
“Kisumu’s commercial life is dominated by Asians but, with their businesses looted and vandalised, the town has been left with little by way of essential supplies. In fact, it is now a shell,” reported The Nation.
In a comprehensive report on the plight of Asians, the East African Standard said on Jan. 5, “By the time of going to press, Kisumu, popularly known as Kenya’s Bombay, due to its high population of Asians literally smelt of smoke.
“When the first round of skirmishes ended at 6pm on December 29, the Central Business District lay flat, with investments worth billions of shillings either looted dry or burnt.”
The paper said it could take up to five years to rebuild a town that was just recovering from years of industrial slump. Major companies like the Kisumu Cotton Mills and Kenya Breweries (Kisumu) branch had collapsed.
“Kisumu has suffered a huge setback. The riots have taken us more than 20 years back,” it quoted local businessman Jacob Omoga as saying.
“The worst part of it is that many members of the Asian community, whose businesses were destroyed, have left the country and I doubt whether they will return,” he said.