By Abu B. Shaw, London Bureau Chief
Allegations made in Australia during the 14th Commonwealth Games in March involving Sierra Leonean athletes who turned asylum seekers overnight have been rubbished by the government of Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone government, reacting strongly through a Ministry of Youth and Sports press release, described the athletes who disappeared during the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne as "unpatriotic". It also dismissed the ugly picture painted by the athletes about Sierra Leone as a figment of their imagination.
The escaped athletes, 14 in number, are seeking asylum in Australia on the grounds of human rights abuses, female genital mutilation and the wanton killing of people. These allegations, the press release maintained, portray an overall picture of insecurity in the West African country.
The government of Sierra Leone says such actions are "clear manifestations of unpatriotic behaviour" and that what happened shows that the athletes have no love for their country.
Sierra Leone, the release went on, does not deserve the bad and humiliating statements made by the athletes.
"The Ministry of Youth and Sports believe such disgraceful acts have the propensity of sending the wrong message to the international community. It could scare away potential investors which the country desperately needs at the moment", the release concluded.
When the sports officials, who led the 22-man Sierra Leone contingent to Australia returned home they confirmed that the 12 athletes who escaped from their village in Melbourne include boxers, cyclists and weightlifters.
The disappearance of the Sierra Leonean sports men and women led to a hectic manhunt by Australian immigration officials. A BBC Five Live Sports radio programme, shortly after the athletes’ escape, reported that the authorities in Australia have made a number of visits to areas inhabited by Africans looking for the athletes but could not find them. The athletes later surfaced and filed asylum papers.
The Sierra Leone government has howvever informed their Australian counterpart that all the allegations made by the athletes in their asylum claims were based on fabrications.
This is the first time Sierra Leone has taken such an action against athletes who abandoned ship to seek political asylum. Four years ago, during the 13th Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Sierra Leone was again humiliated when some officials and athletes of the Sierra Leone contingent disappeared from their camp. The hue and cry that followed forced many western countries to rethink granting visas to sports representatives from Sierra Leone.
What made the Melbourne 2006 games more devastating than the Manchester games in 2002 was the difference of circumstances. The athletes’ disappearance in Australia was more glaring and painful in that some of them were scheduled to do a field event the next day.
It was glaringly obvious that something had gone amiss when the Sierra Leone representatives failed to turn up to grace a field event. Sierra Leone was ridiculed when the Australian sports organisers announced in the stadium that the Sierra Leone athletes have failed to turn up for the event.
Sierra Leone officials were visibly irritated at the stadium. Equally embarrassed were Sierra Leonean sports fans watching the games live around the world.
Abu Sesay, a Sierra Leonean living in London however supports the athletes:
" Frankly,no sensible human being who knows what is going on in Sierra Leone today would blame these athletes. A government that does not put its priorities right for its citizenry will always be faced with such embarrassments", he said.
Photo:Some of the asylum seekers.
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