Serge Fosso: Why I was Kicked Off a Brussels Airlines Flight To Douala

"I am still very angry as I think of my daughter for whom I had exceptionally taken this vacation... I was treated with contempt and brutalized just because for one moment, I was the voice of a misfortune which did not have a voice; because I had come to the aid of a human being who was being ill-treated and needed help."

On March 27, 136 Nigerian passengers were ordered off a British Airways flight to Lagos after they complained about the brutal treatment of a man who was being deported to Nigeria. One of the passengers, Ayodeji Omotade, whom police considered the ringleader of the protest movement, was arrested, abandoned at the airport and banned from flying on British Airways.  One momth later, the outrage over this incident is still growing.

Last week, Nigerian President Yar’dua launched an investigation into the incident. Nigeria’s foreign Minister also met with the British high commissioner in Abuja to inform him in no uncertain terms that Nigeria “would not tolerate the inhuman treatment of any Nigerian for any reason, even when there are allegations of criminal activities” and that “Nigerians must be treated with dignity within and outside the shores of the country.”

Unfortunately, BA is not the exception as many European Airlines are guilty of what has been described as “casual racism”.

It was, therefore, business as usual last weekend when three passengers, (two of them Cameroonians) were kicked off a Brussels Airlines flight heading for Douala for protesting against the brutalization of an African who was being deported back to the continent. One of the passengers, Serge Ngajui Fosso, was not just kicked off the plane, but also beaten up by the Belgian police, detained for over 10 hours. Unlike most people in similar situation, Mr. Fosso is not going quietly and is raising quite a ruckus. In fact, his story has already been broadcast on Belgian TV and he does not intend to stop there.

Here is an excerpt of Serge Fosso's first person account of his ordeal in the hands of the Belgian police:

I am writing this message from Mons in Belgium. I arrived here yesterday, 26 April 2008 shortly after midnight, after having been violently expelled from a Brussels Airlines flight heading to Kinshasa via Douala, and locked up in a cell at the Brussels airport from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. without food and water, without being able to contact my family.

Here is a narrative of the drama as it unfolded.

It is the 26th of April 2008 and I am going to Cameroon on vacation. At 5:30 pm, I leave Clichy by taxi for the Charles de Gaulle airport. At 7:40 am I leave Paris for Brussels on a Brussels Airlines flight, to catch a connecting flight to Douala at 10:40 am with the same airline. The trip to Brussels is uneventful and I make it to my connecting flight on time. Trouble however begins when I get to my seat at the rear of the aircraft. I notice men in uniform trying to subdue a black man who is struggling and shouting “Help! Leave me alone! I don’t want to go!” The men smother him as they try to prevent him from crying out. The young man struggles as much as he can and continues to scream as the four huge fellows restrain him. Other plainclothes policemen cordon off the area while helpless passengers watch the unfolding drama. I realize immediately that this is a repatriation. As the cries of the individual, who is still being pinned down, become muffled, I instantly recall the case of Semira Adamu, the young Nigerian asylum seeker who was suffocated to death with a pillow by two Belgian officers in 1998 on a SABENA flight.

Thoughts begin racing through my mind; What should I do? Do nothing like the others? Take action? As someone interested in human rights and the rights of foreigners in Europe, I get up, and call on the closest flight attendant. I protest firmly and loudly, reminding her that we are on a commercial flight and that we cannot fly under such conditions. The other passengers who have been silent until then join in. I begin videotaping the unfolding drama. Other passengers do same. Faced with the mounting protest, the uniformed men leave the plane with their passenger.

A few minutes later, police officers board the aircraft and plain clothes cops identify three passengers (me included) as ringleaders of the “disturbance” on the aircraft. The officers ask us to leave. As soon as I ask them why, they throw themselves at me, raining punches and kicks and throwing me to the ground. I am handcuffed and dragged, bleeding, through the aisle, down the stairs and then thrown into a police van. While in the van, I notice one of the officers watching the video of the original police brutality from my camcorder. A long and difficult day has just begun for me as I am insulted and mistreated all the way to the airport holding cell.

At 1: 35 pm I am set free along with the other Cameroonian. I do not see the third person kicked out of the plane, a Caucasian.  The police inform us that that we have been barred from flying on Brussels Airlines for the next six months. When we ask how we are supposed to get to Douala, the police send us to see the Head of Security. As we wait for the security boss, I think about my little daughter who is impatiently and enthusiastically waiting for me in Douala and who would be very disappointed if I don’t show up. I become angry, very angry.

The head of security finally arrives and confirms that we have both been blacklisted by the airline. I ask her how we are supposed to get to Douala but she brushes me off and insists that the airlines will not reimburse us. My anger rises and I tell the lady in no uncertain terms that I don’t care if I never travel on Brussels Airlines, that I intend to return to Paris, and that I should be reimbursed because the company has not fulfilled its contractual obligations towards me. My tone is loud but courteous. Passers-by stare at us. The lady then calls the police who arrive and drag me back to the cell where I am locked up until 10 p.m. without food or water and without contacting my family.

Finally, the police contact my nephew who lives in Mons. He arrives with his wife and the police officers inform me that I am free to go. I tell them that I don’t understand why I was detained for an entire day under such conditions and that I do not intend to leave until after my problem is solved; either I am allowed to travel to Douala or I am taken back to Paris and my air fare reimbursed. Realizing that I don’t intend to leave, the cops push me out of the cell and hand me my belongings but I refuse to take them. One of them grabs me by the neck, pushes me out of their office and throws my belongings after me. I leave without picking them up. My nephew’s wife finally goes back to get my things; my sunglasses are missing, so too is the video of the police brutalizing the African on the plane, which has been erased. Luckily other passengers filmed the incident.

Eventually, my nephew and his wife convince me to go with them to Mons.

I am still very angry, very angry as I think of my daughter for whom I had exceptionally taken this vacation. I am angry because I am generally a calm person, courteous and definitely not violent. Yet, throughout the day, I was treated with contempt and brutalized just because for one moment, I was the voice of a misfortune which did not have a voice; because I had come to the aid of a human being who was being ill-treated and needed help.

I don’t know when and how I will get to Cameroon… I don’t know where my suitcases are… But I don’t intend taking this lying down. I will file suit against Brussels Airlines.

They haven’t heard the last of this incident.

Update:
On April 28, Serge Fosso was interviewed on Radio Television Belge Francophone. Click here to view the report (in French).

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Comments

[Ndim Bernard Ngouche]

It is rather shocking and stupidfying to hear today that most Africans do not yet know that their colour is hated by causcasins. I believe that the time is now for African governments to give back to these idiots bullet for bullet and tit for tat for everythng done against Africans. We should sue each Airline plying the African Air space that threats African Passengers like dogs for we are not dogs. It is time for Africans to stand up and shout aloud that our voices be heard. The stories i have read about the strangling to death of q Nigerian by Belgian police hurt. If that is what they want we will give them the best of threatments when they come to Africa. I wish we should do like the Igbos who have openly shown their hatred for the white man for he hates Africans. They should be slaughtered if that is what will send a stronger message to these killers.

[ekowest]

A solution to the problem is to call for a boycot of the AIRLINE.It makes me cry and ask; where is CAMAIR? Africans,Cameroonians,if we did not mismanage our own(Camair)we will not depend on these airlines who make the prices for us.Its a pity

[Berinyuy]

There is an online petition which has been created by some well meaning and patriotic Cameroonians against the killing of Cameroonians in February and the subsequent incarceration of thousands of young Cameroonians in gruelling conditions.This petition will later on be channeled to the United Nations(UN) and the African Union(AU).

Go to www.petitionOnline.com/280208.

[Macadamia Cake]

Nigerians are more likely to take concrete action than all these other helpless negroes put together.

[Macadamia Cake]

Africans need to get their act together like the Asians and Latin Americans in order to terminate this European rubbish.

[Akame mbulle]

Horror and horror and horror, let the Gods of Africa hear our cry.The world is bleeding with endless hatre against the black colour.Little wonder each and every one nowadays want to be a white man, eat like whites, speak like whites and even walk like whites.Who are these whites. Where did they come from? and why don't they have their own world?.God was not wrong to create the world as a round table.This signifies that whether you are found in Venezuela,Moscow or Botswana the world is One and unique and "man" living in it is One irrespective of colour, gender, size etc.
The unfortunate incident that occured in Brusells against our colleagues SERGE and the blatant violation of fundmental rights to fellow blacks most specifically from Africa is a remarkable event that will go down in history of European emperialism.The poor,greedy and immatured attitude masterminded by the so called Europeans who feels that African immigrants flooding their countries are there to beg and as such deserves to be treated with little respect, dispair and impunity should not be taken likely. Thank God there is a fast evolution of the world.In America today, these so called whites are no longer being worshiped, In South Africa they are relegated at the background. least to talk about countries like Zimbabwe etc. Africans nowadays whether in Europe or else where in the world excelle in all works of life.Go to renounce universities in the world such as Cambrige, Oxford in England, Havard in USA there you meet African lecturers doing better than so called whites. least to mention the sport world which is dominated by Africans in Europe and else where in the world.Why then do these so called whites even those ones that can,t afford for themselves still have that air of superiority in them?.Only those depride of sound education for lack of finance and ravened by poverty in Europe are recruited in the police force.Their mediocre educational standard amplified with abundance of ignorance lead them for wrong interpretation of immigration laws.This pushes them to be so emotional and aggressive towards immigrants especially those from Africa.
It is time we the blacks no matter where you are, in schools, markets,train stations,flights, buses, airports ect stand and fight back these so called whites bone to bone, flesh for flesh.
SERGE."I give you all the courage you deserve to proceed with that matter to the end".

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

I don't think this is the full story? We need to know more about the man who was being deported. Why was he protesting? was he a legal of illegal immigrant? did he provoke the men in uniform or was he being dragged into the plane?

Before you guys jump around pulling the race card and calling people "negroes", you need to get the WHOLE story.

[Essama]

UniteStatesof Africa.

For purposes of argument, let's assume the following:

1. The deportee was an illegal immigrant
2. He was resisting deportation

Does this justify:

1. His mistreatment by security forces?
2. The police's violent reaction to Fosso's concerns?
3. Fosso' subsequent treatment by the Belgian police?
4. The airlines banning Fosso, abandoning him in Brussels without alternative travel arrangements and refusing to reimburse it?

Definitely Not! In this regard, Nigeria's statement that it “would not tolerate the inhuman treatment of any Nigerian for any reason, even when there are allegations of criminal activities” is right on target.

So whatever the "whole story", this is about European airlines trampling all over Africans because we are known to take the blows without fighting back, without asserting our rights.

So please, let us not try to justify the injustifiable.

[Macadamia Cake]

Essama gets it. In the other stories linked here, a Nigerian was thrown off a British Airways plane for protesting the brutal treatment of a Nigerian individual. Subsequently, all the Nigerians protested and 138 of them were taken off the plane, which flew half empty to Nigeria. Nigerian government is not taking it lying down. British Airways sent some junior officials to speak to the senior Nigerian government official and they sent them packing. That is how a government representing a people acts.

If British Airways does not react properly, it seriously risks being boycotted by Nigerians worldwide and being denied landing rights in Nigeria.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/component/option,com_philaform/Itemid,214/form_id,6/

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/nvs/a-world-of-casual-racism-exposed-at-ba.html

If British Airways fails to respond by the deadline of April 30, ALL AFRICANS, not just Nigerians should join to teach a lesson to to this European Airline (BA)

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

Mr. Essama,

With due respect sir, don't put words in my mouth. I am not trying to "justify the injustifiable". I was simply calling on us to look into the whole story before we point any fingers. For all we know, the deportee could have attacked one of the men in uniform and that is why he was handled violently. We don't know yet is the deportee was also at fault. The way he was handled may have been due to provocation and not racism. I was calling on people to look into this, I wasn't saying that racism on planes don't exist.

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

Mr. Essama,

With due respect sir, don't put words in my mouth. I am not trying to "justify the injustifiable". I was simply calling on us to look into the whole story before we point any fingers. For all we know, the deportee could have attacked one of the men in uniform and that is why he was handled violently. We don't know yet is the deportee was also at fault. The way he was handled may have been due to provocation and not racism. I was calling on people to look into this, I wasn't saying that racism on planes don't exist.

[Essama]

UnitedStatesofAfrica,

You are focusing on a side issue. This story is really about the treatment metted out to Mr. Fosso and not the deportee. One more time, let's assume that the deportee had initially hit a policeman before Fosso boarded the plane. What exactly was Mr. Fosso's crime? Did he hit someone? Did he insult someone? Was he rude? No! So why on earth was he treated worse than a common criminal? That is the main story here. Whether it is racism or not is irrelevant; it is a violation of human rights; it is unethical, and may even be considered criminal in even under Belgian law. So forget about the "racism" straw man for a minute and look at the big picture.

[paulo laurent]

ah ah ah
YOUR PRESIDENT WOULD FLY IN THE NEXT DAY
TO BELGIUM AND DINE WITH THEM. AND SAY
AH, THATS JUST ANOTHER RASCAL

I MEAN PAUL BIYA, HE WILL ALSO BRING A BAG FULL OF YOUR COUNTRY MONIES TP GIVE TO THEIR BANKS FOR THE KEEPING.

YET SOME OF YOU THOUGHT FREDOM IS ONLY ONE SIDE, ITS ALLAROUND. INSIDE AFRICA
AS OUT SIDE,

THATS EXACTLY WHAT SOCIOLOGIES MEAN WHEN THEY CALL BLACK PEOPLE SUB SAHARAN
THIRD WORLD, ETC. HOW CAN ANY ONE ONE
KEEP AN ENTIRE 7M BLACK PEOPLE IN SLAVERY FOR 45 YEARS IS BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING. AND HE IS VERY HAPPY THAT SOUTHERN CAMEROONS HAVE NO AIRPORT AND HAVE NO RIGHT TO GOVERN THEIR OWN COUNTRY, THATS ALSO PART OF IT, LET NO BODY SAY I AM STRAYING AWAY FROM THE SUBJECT, BUT ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED AT LEAST TO THE CIVILISED WORLD WHERE HUMAN RIGHT MEANS THE RESPECT FOR ALL PEOPLE, ALL RACES AND ALL CREED.

[paulo laurent]

some mention camair, camair is paul biya s property if you dont know today.

[Akame mbulle]

My respectable friend not your real name United States of Africa. Please you need not hide your identity when commenting on something so remarkable of this magnitude. Your views are equally right save for the fact that you failed to consult on the charter of United Nation Declaration on Human Rights.Putting a man under stress, torture,intimidation,assault is vehemently outlawed by the Universal declaration on human rights.It is therefore inappropriate and unjustifiable to mastermind a cruel,degrading and unsound behaviour to another human being whether he or she is a criminal, illegal immigrant,an impostor,a prisoner just to name a few.
Mr USA. will you allow your brother to die seeing him in pains because he drives a car without a drivers licence and crashes his car into another persons car? Definitely not.Are there no white illegal immigrants in Africa?. How many have been subjected to such treatments.The intervention of SERGE into this unsavoury attitude by the so called immigration police resulted on the uncivilised and xanophobic tendencies displayed on a fellow black brother which he found to be unjust. I personally will definitely do same.
What crime did he commit then that he was unjustifiably incarcerated and cut off from all communications to the outside world for a good number of hours?. A white man always think he is right in the presence of a black man.If the Bruxelles incident happened but in one of the African countries,it will be a major news in world media.
I re-interate its high time we start spitting on their faces equally.
Bye for now.

[Berinyuy]

Akame Mbulle, donot waste your energy on that block headed and failed assylum seeker called UnitedstatesofAfrica."Professor argument" who roars and never proposes any solutions and cowardly hides behind a pseudonyme whose meaning he doesn't understand.When somebody calls himself "UnitedstatesofAfrica" it is implied that he is a vociferous fighter for Panafricanism and the rights of the black man.But as cunning and hypocritical as he is what else can u expect?

[Sense-Pass-King]

I want us to be objective for a second here.

Assume that you are an illegal immigrant (most probably a failed asylum seeker) who has exhausted all legal channels to remain in Europe/ America and the legal system has issued an order for your deportation. You have been given a fair chance to state your case which was not believed.

The police are entrusted with the responsibility of sending you off (note that airfare paid by host government). In the face of your vehement and violent refusal to accept to board the plane what do you expect them to do? Of course they must use as much physical force as humanely possible to compel you to leave.

Otherwise nobody would ever be jailed because it would suffice for a convicted criminal to clutch desperately onto a wooden post in the courtroom screaming that he doesn’t want to go to jail.

And those of you crying racism against blacks have you ever asked yourself how Cameroonian authorities treat Nigerian immigrants; how Equato Guinean authorities treat Cameroonian immigrants etc. I bet you know the answer.

Lets leave these authorities alone. They are simply working to implement the immigration laws in their countries albeit those laws are very unfavourable to you (and with very good reason don’t you agree). Your challenge is to make your countries equally as prosperous so that remaining in another country is not a matter of life or death.

But then you’ll tell me you cannot make your countries prosperous because the white man’s parasitic influence maintains African despots in power. Strange that this parasitic influence sort of bypassed Malaysia, Singapore, China, India etc.

[Berinyuy]

UnitedstatesofAfrica the failed assylum seeker,stop hiding behind the pseudonyme;Sense-Pass-King.Everyone knows it's u who is behind this pseudonyme.Coward like u.U hide behind the name "Sense-pass-King" bc u have betrayed your other name "UnitedstatesofAfrica" and u have been caught.

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

Mr. Essama,

I get your point. The way Fosso was handled was, without a doubt, abominable and uncalled for. My inquiry into the matter is the way in which he was quick to reprimand the men in uniform without getting the full information on what was going on. If you look at his story, you will that he omitted that part. When he heard the deportee yelling for help, he immediately thought about the Nigerian incident and jumped into conclusions. My question is what if the men in uniform were aggressive with the deportee because he was equally violent? we don't know that. What if the men in uniform were provoked? when you are violent with police men, they have the right to be violent with you.

Fosso's arrest and treatment was atrocious. He was treated like an animal in jail and something needs to be done about that. No doubt. I guess what I am trying to say is that, Fosso should looked more into the matter become jumping into conclusions. What if it is later discovered that the deportee was being aggressive and the men in uniform had no choice but to be aggressive with him? wouldn't that minimize Fosso's argument?

Don't see something and immediately say "oh! it's racism". This is impulsive race-card pulling is one of the reasons why African Americans and Africans in diaspora can't progress. You see a black child who never studies, when a white professor gives him a bad grade, he says racism. Racism exists but sometimes, we need to take responsibility. You can't blame every plight in your life on racism. Stand up for yourself and do something!

[Essama]

Unitedstatesof Africa,

But Fosso never complained about racism on the plane!! Infact, in his whole narrative he doesn't mention racism but writes about the abuse of human rights.

While on the plane, he was concerned that the deportee was being "smothered" i.e., suffocated, and his cries were becoming muffled. Any doctor will tell you that this is a bad sign and that the individual might just be about to lose consciousness. This is why he thought about the case of Semira Adamu. That was a legitimate concern irrespective of what the deportee had done before. So once again, you are missing the point.

Note also that an air ticket is a legal contract, an indication that you have paid for services; i.e, to be transported, safely and peacefully to your destination. Please talk to any lawyer about how contracts work. The airlines failed when it allowed its aircraft to used as a cell or torture chamber

Commercial planes should not be used to deport individuals especially if they are violent or mentally unbalanced. So when Fosso complained that they could not possibly travel under such circumstances, he was well within his rights, given his contract with the airlines.

Africans have been so beaten down by their own governments that the concept of actually fighting for their rights is such an alien and even disgusting concept, unless it is in the abstract and from a safe distance - e.g., shouting "biya must go" from the safety of the internet. When it comes to the real thing, we start looking for excuses...

To conclude:

1. Serge Fosso was within his legal rights to complain to the air hostess (note that at no point did he confront the Belgian police)

2. He is right to sue both the Belgian police and Brussels Airlines for his subsequent treatment.

The rest is merely an intellectual excercise.

[FCB]

This is painful! The treatment received by Mr. Fosso was not justifiable. As the old saying goes 'bad things happen when good people do nothing'. However, in this case Mr. Fosso stood up for what he believed was the right thing to do irrespective of the consequences. I applaud his courage.

Reading this post opened a whole new world into how African immigrants seeking asylum and those being deported are treated. European countries preach about human rights and yet incidents like these happen on their shores! This is hypocrisy. If this was the treatment of a European by an African Institution, I'm sure the entire world would have heard about barbaric and uncivilized ways Africans operate. Even in cases were Europeans have committed atrocious acts in Africa and have been convicted by a court, they still get away with it. Case in point is the kidnapping of children in Chad by the French NGO. We need to stand up and speak against this injustice. Acts like these must not be tolerated.
Thanks for the post and keep up the good work!

[Nlatane]

The simmering resentment that most Africans feel about such blatant harassment could only be matched by the same abhorrence and impatience that Westerners are feeling about an influx of foreigners in their countries.

While we seem to have settled in our disillusionment about our homelands, those into whose countries Africans have beaten a well-worn path are not so thrilled by the seeming relentless “invasion.”

We are approaching a tipping point; where we must ask ourselves very difficult questions. How long are we going to tolerate this? I mean remaining immigrants who are shoved and repartriated willy-nilly?

Why do we shirk our responsibilities back home, only to suffer these kinds of abusive violations of our basic rights, and sheer bestial humiliation in the hands of xenophobic foreigners?

Patriotism is a team sport—but it may seem in this game, Africans are on the losing side. We appear to have unobtrusively substituted one form of abuse at home by tacitly tolerating such humiliating debasement in the hands of callous strangers.

While the man who was being repatriated to whatever country he was being dragged back to, is as much a victim of inhuman abuse, he might have been expressing his pain and anger at the wrong people.

Our collective hostilities should be channeled towards our unelected tyrants and thieves who make our countries so unattractive, we are not respected abroad!

I can understand the anger of people who seem to see foreigners as desperados and savages who are flocking to their countries and sucking up their resources. They hardly understand why people fail to stand up for themselves, in their own countries and are unable to rail against mindboggling tyranny from the hands of little Hitlers and dictators like Biya and Mugabe.

We Africans abroad could rightly feel outrage as we have the ability and liberty to express our anger without the fear of the wee hour knocks on the door; we can rail against the callousness of the police brutality against a fellow human. But in Cameroon, and Zimbabwe, this is the norm.

I dare opine that Mr Serge Fosso is a rare breed of a Cameroonian. Most like me, would have been subdued like shrinking violets, once they tasted the bitterness of a police cell. We are not repeat offenders. And maybe this spirit of docility and fear is what has helped ruin our countries and turned Afridans into perpetual immigrants.

[Samira Edi]

Is there a chance the Cameroonian government will stand up for the rights of its citizens abroad, like Nigeria did? We cannot be shown the same level of respect because the government doesn't care.

[Nju Elias]

Belgian Human Rights League: "The reaction of Brussels Airlines was disproportionate"

The reaction of the passengers is a healthy one in a democracy which seems to accomodate these types of contestables practices, especially when the passengers' protest was totally peaceful".

http://www.7sur7.be/7s7/fr/1502/Belgique/article/detail/261439/2008/04/30/-La-reaction-de-Brussels-Airlines-est-disproportionnee-.dhtml

[Wonja]

It's sickening to see Africans still being treated like filth! Africans need to take concrete action against such an airline, even boycotting it all together.

As for African gov'ts we know some like Nigeria will try to put some pressure, but Cameroon is a sad case. we can still remeber how silent the gov't stayed when Cameroonians were tortued and deported from the midget-size nation called Equatorial guinea.