Ba, a young law student from Abidjan University, arrived at Heathrow Airport in London at the end of August 1994, after a short stopover in Paris. Immediately, he applied to British authorities for political asylum. Ba claimed that he had suffered repeated instances of police harassment in his country for belonging to an opposition party, the Ivoirian Popular Front, as well as to a trade union, the Cote d'Ivoire Student Federation. British airport police kept him in the transit zone, later to expel him to France, applying the concept of a "safe third country."
As soon as Ba arrived at Roissy Airport in Paris, he was arrested and taken to a transit zone. On October 15, he was sent back to London. Taken into custody as he disembarked, he only regained his freedom on 6 November, after an interview with an immigration official who at long last issued him a six-month residence permit. Ba could finally set foot on British soil.
By: Francis Kpatinde
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| Abidjan Photo: IRIN |
