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URGENT ACTION!
Stop the Deportation of Tidiane Sow to Guinea-Bissau

Tidiane, a young man, is expecting to be deported to Guinea-Bissau any time now. Like many other civilians, he was able to flee during the rebellion in June 1998. Despite present ECWAS observations and international pressure demanding a cease fire and settlement, the fighting between the rebel troops and the government army is continuously flaring up. Although the country underwent general elections in November 1999, human rights organisations such as amnesty international have been reporting time and again, that civilians are subjected to arbitrary arrest, severe abuse, torture and imprisonment without trial. At that time, Tidiane was 16 years old. His only remaining relatives, his uncle and his brother, have disappeared - it is assumed they have been killed. His brother was an active member of the overthrown government party and his uncle was the minister for education. There is a very high probability therefore that Tidiane, as a family member of former government circles, is in fear for his life and can be expected to be killed on return.

Tidiane\\\'s political activities began during the "International Border Camp" in Zittau in 1999, where his asylum seekers hostel was located. The barracks, in which he lived together with other refugees from Algeria, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Angola, Congo (Zaïre), Kosovo, Albania, Iran, Iraq, Croatia, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Turkey, Kurdistan, Lybia, Ethiopia and Guinea-Bissau, did not deserve their name. The 130 asylum seekers, many families amongst them, had to share three washing machines and four cookers. The toilets were usually defect, showers often only with cold water, and due to the old heating system it was regularly cold. Electric cables were unprotected, burst water pipes common, walls and ceilings therefore damp, not least due to the holes in the roof, and if this was not enough, the rooms were infected with cockroaches. All these are just some of the short-comings which the inspector of the social committee found on his visit. In addition to this, there was the dictatorial rule of the caretaker of the home, lack of leisure possibilities and severe isolation behind barbered wire, all common problems in German asylum hostels.

Tidiane broke through this isolation and away from the inhumane living conditions and sought contact with the "Border Camp 99" which took place near Zittau in July 1999. The camp was organised by a national network of anti-racist and anti-fascist groups, the campaign "no one is illegal" and the human rights association of Jena, "The Voice Africa Forum e.V". They initiated a demonstration to the municipal authority and the asylum seekers home (both ironically posited almost opposite each other) and also protested via the Internet against the abhorrent situation. These protests led to the closure of the home in October 1999. Tidiane\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s name and face were regularly published by local and regional newspapers during these actions. He started to be severely pressurised by the home caretaker as well as the Foreigners Office, who told him that he was the instigator of these problems and he would therefore endanger his asylum status. After the closure of the hostel, the asylum seekers were distributed to various homes around Zittau. Tidiane was separated from all those, to whom he had established a good rapport during the protests and sent to an extremely bad asylum seekers hostel in Porschendorf. This hostel is very isolated, being located in a forest. The food provisions are a catastrophe and have led to health problems amongst many of the occupants, including Tidiane. The building is in an even worse condition than the one in Zittau. No human being can live under these circumstances. Tidiane protested to the Foreigners Office who told him to stay at the hostel. Consequently Tidiane returned to his first asylum hostel in Quitzdorf/Kollm and stayed there for a week before he was sent back to Porschendorf.

The authorities punished him for his independent action. During this time he received "Duldung" (pending residence permit), which meant he had to report to the authorities on a day to day basis. For a month, Tidiane did not receive a "Duldung" at all and was only able to prove his identity with a paper that certified his obligation of transfer. On top of this, the paper spelled his name the wrong way, an aspect that brought Tidiane into trouble during a police control. Tidiane tried to stay in contact with people who were fighting for the same goal in Zittau throughout all this time.

During this time, an appeal against the first refusal of his asylum application was in process, which had been refused by the administrative court in Dresden, for \\\\\\\\\\\\\'manifestly unfounded reasons\\\\\\\\\\\\\', after only a week. However, his application for temporary legal protection was refused. On 2 March he received the order to leave the German Federal Republic until 10 March 2000. Due to difficulties to issue him a passport, he received another "Duldung" to 1 May. An application for his deportation stop which was issued by an advice office on 9 March was refused on 14 March by the Federal Office with the simple statement that they could not detect any hindrances to his deportation. In addition to this, the correspondence explained that the authorities were very surprised about the advice office\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s application because they had not given Tidiane permission to visit the institution. The latter is an open threat of deportation because an alleged violation of the "Residenzpflicht", which forces asylum seekers to remain in their designated state (Landkreis), is often used as a reason for deportation. The reason why the deportation had not taken place earlier, is only because Tidiane was still under age until 1 January 2000. His self-confident political behaviour is, within these circumstances, even more remarkable. He did not accept the conditions in the asylum hostels. Rather, he was seeking and, in the end, finding active possibilities to publicise these conditions through the campaign "no one is illegal". Consequently he was under continuous pressure from the authorities. However, he kept on going and fighting, even after the attempt by the authorities to stop his contact with his former housemates from the asylum hostel. This contact had become rather dangerous because they had all become involved in the protests after realising that the fight against inhumane conditions can lead to success. Because of these activities, Tidiane was isolated from the other inhabitants and moved into a particularly bad hostel. However, he resisted his punishment and fought against the "Residenzpflicht".

We, the activists and supporters of the Caravan for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants will not accept that Tidiane Sow, who has fought for the human rights of refugees, will be deported to Guinea-Bissau. We are not going to accept that he will be punished for his fight for better living conditions. We will prevent this deportation at all costs and we encourage you to support the campaign against the deportation of Tidiane Sow.

Our demands are:

* Stop the deportation
* Immediate extension of Tidiane Sow\\\'s residence permit
* The unconditional recognition of his reasons for flight and the granting of asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany - retraction of the deportation order
* The possibility for Tidiane to choose his place of residence - stop the repression
* Abort the Residenzpflicht, abolish the forced accommodation of asylum seekers in camps
* The granting of asylum and the right to stay for all asylum seekers who have been persecuted for political, racist and sexist reasons!

Please send or fax the accompanying letter to:

Regierungsbehörde Chemnitz,
Zentrale Ausländerbehörde,
Postfach 1332,
09072 Chemnitz.
Fax: 0371 4599 240

Landratsamt Sächsische Schweiz,
Ausländerbehörde,
Zehistaer Str.9,
01782 Pirna. Fax: 03501 515192, zu Händen Frau Thomas

Bundesamt für die Anerkennung Ausländischer Flüchtlinge,
Außenstelle Quitzdorf-Kollm.
Tel: 03588 2620, Fax: 03588 262199

Please send a copy of your fax/letter to
The Voice Africa Forum Jena e.V.,
Schillergäßchen 5,
07745 Jena,
Tel: 03641 665214, Fax: 03641 423795,
THE_VOICE_Jena@gmx.de