Thursday 8 October 2009

African migrants seeking UK 'dream'


Panorama's Paul Kenyon visited a derelict house near the French port of Calais to hear why so many young African migrants remain determined to reach Britain.

The cellar steps are thick with oil and the walls a congealed buttery yellow. They're steep and twisting, and someone's daubed graffiti in a language I do not recognise.
Clearing work at a Calais migrant camp
The French government has recently dismantled migrant camps in Calais

At the bottom someone has tried to light a fire, and the charcoal remains have been kicked around in the gloom. There is a stinking curtain across a doorway, and when I tug it, a swarm of silent flies tumble out, and bump around the cameraman's light.

On the other side is the skeleton of an arm chair, some half eaten cans of food and an overwhelming smell of stale urine. Upstairs is not much better.

Here in Calais, this is home to around 30 men and two women. They are mostly young and ambitious and some speak several languages

continue http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/8287428.stm

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