Swaraj reaches out to African students, assures safety

Reaching out to the African students in India, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj allayed their fears following a series of recent attacks and assured them of full safety. “We tried to explain them that the incident is huge but it isn’t an incident of racial discrimination,” Mrs Swaraj said after a meeting with delegation of African students in New Delhi on May 31. “CCTV footage clearly shows that Indian citizens who were present at spot, tried their best to save Masunda Oliver. We held a meeting with African students and told them the incident of death of Congo national is not only unfortunate but painful for us,” Mrs Swaraj added. Mrs Swaraj and Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh had jointly held a meeting with a delegation of African students and two leaders. The increase in attacks on African nationals has caused outrage among the African community living in India, home to over 20,000 students. The government has gone into damage control mode after the African envoys had last week threatened to boycott the Africa Day event over the killing of a Congolese student. Condoling the death of the Congolese student, Mrs Swaraj said: “Being a mother, I can understand the pain of parents of Congo student (Oliver) who lost their son on a foreign soil.”