Uganda activist Nyanzi returns to Germany after Nairobi standoff, cites harassment by authorities
Nyanzi, who holds refugee status in Germany, said she was finally allowed back after a diplomatic meeting with embassy officials in Nairobi, ending a tense standoff over her travel documents.
Ugandan academic and activist Stella Nyanzi has arrived back in Germany after spending several days stranded in Nairobi, claiming she faced discrimination and harassment from both German and Ugandan officials.
Nyanzi, who holds refugee status in Germany, said she was finally allowed back after a diplomatic meeting with embassy officials in Nairobi, ending a tense standoff over her travel documents.
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“I am dirty, tired, sleepy and very happy to be a Ugandan refugee back home in Germany,” she said after landing at Munich International Airport on Wednesday morning.
“I clapped my hands loud and long like a village-bumpkin flying for the first time,” she added.
Nyanzi said the German Embassy in Nairobi reversed an earlier decision that had blocked her from boarding a flight, despite her showing proof of asylum status.
“They served us tea and warm scones. These Germans are amazing people,” she wrote.
Earlier, Nyanzi accused German officials of mistreatment, saying a liaison officer dismissed her refugee status despite her presenting official documentation from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
“I went to the German embassy in Nairobi… Yet I was denied permission to enter Germany,” Nyanzi said.
New visa
The embassy eventually issued her a new multiple-entry visa.
"I could have hugged the passport control officers,” Nyanzi said.
She was met at the airport by her daughter and a family friend.
She had fled Uganda after repeated arrests linked to her criticism of President Yoweri Museveni.
But her recent travel to Uganda through Kenya may have raised questions about her refugee claims.
Nyanzi also accused Ugandan security agents of targeting her loved ones.
“Armed men visited homes in Kitukutwe, Bulindo, Masaka, Najjeera and Entebbe looking for my twin sons. Shame on dictator Museveni’s police for trying to intimidate my close friends,” she said.
Feeling abandoned
Nyanzi says the ordeal left her feeling abandoned by Germany’s immigration system.
“This poor black Ugandan refugee woman wonders how much more begging the Germans in power expect her to make before they allow her to go home,” she said.
She also made a bitter attack against Uganda’s leadership.
“Perhaps, instead of begging the Germans, I should beg dictator Museveni to die quickly so that Uganda can be free.”
Despite the emotional return to Germany, Nyanzi says she plans to go back to Nairobi soon.
“East Africa belongs to all of us who claim her as our home,” she said. “Even when I am a refugee woman, I am exercising all my human rights and freedoms.”
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