Ghanaian athlete seek asylum in Australia

CANBERRA, Australia -- TWENTY-SIX athletes and officials who took part in last month's Commonwealth Games are seeking asylum in Australia in a development that could create a new round of diplomatic problems for the Howard Government.

The group is understood to include participants from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Cameroon. They are among an estimated 126 Commonwealth Games athletes and team officials who have overstayed their special Games visas.

With Commonwealth Games travel authorities issued to athletes and officials expected to expire today, the Immigration Department estimates 100 people have not yet left the country or made visa applications. This is in addition to the 26 who have applied for asylum.

The asylum-seekers include 14 members of the Sierra Leone team who applied for protection visas after fleeing the athletes village.

They were issued with bridging visas after spending six days on the run. The Immigration Department is assessing their asylum applications.

The group, which fled to the Sydney house of a sympathetic doctor, included three young women who claimed they were fearful of facing brutal traditional female circumcisions if they returned to Sierra Leone.
One of the athletes told police that, three weeks before she travelled to Melbourne to compete in the Games, her sister had bled to death after undergoing the procedure.
The status of the Nigerian, Cameroon, Ghanaian and Bangladeshi applicants is unknown.
Although Nigeria has experienced longstanding religious and ethnic tensions, its neighbour, Cameroon, has enjoyed relative stability although most of the country's political power remains with the ethnic oligarchy headed by President Paul Biya.
The Immigration Department said the majority of athletes and team officials had complied with visa conditions.
"The Commonwealth Games visa arrangements have been very successful and some people attending the Games have stayed on to enjoy Australian hospitality as their visas were valid for a month after the end of the Games," a spokesman said.
More than 600 athletes and officials from other countries elected to remain in Australia for more than a week after the Games but the majority of those have now left, an Immigration spokesman said.
Government officials anticipate that many of the overstayers -- who are from low-risk countries such as New Zealand and Britain -- will leave promptly or make a visa application.
After the Sydney Olympics in 2000, more than 30 athletes and officials made asylum claims and more than 140 members of the Olympic family overstayed their visas.
The group, which represented less than 1 per cent of the 38,000 athletes and officials in Sydney for the Games, were mainly from Britain, Germany, Canada and other "low risk" countries such as the US.