By Abu B. Shaw, Vanguard London Bureau Chief
The Home Office, charged with the responsibility of monitoring Immigration and
Naturalisation affairs in the United Kingdom, has ourightly ridiculed claims
made by a Cameroon national after he presented African voodoo as the cause for his
seeking asylum in Britain.
William Meli, 30, told Home Office officials in London that a village chief
had placed a curse on him culminating in his fleeing Cameroon for fear of
his life.
Mr. Meli, who now resides in Middlesbrough, England, is reported to have
said that the same chief had used voodoo on two of his friends who have
already lost their lives.
According to the best selling newspaper in Britian, THE SUN dated Wednesday,
July 19, 2006, the Home Office is determined to deport Mr. Meli back to
Cameroon unless he provides proof of the curse inflicted by his chief.
Reports say the African refugee told the Home Office that it is practically
impossible to provide proof of the voodoo. But immigration officials could
not buy the story.
The Cameroonian claims he and his dead friends angered their chief by going
against tradition and advice and went on to study at a university in a
nearby town.
“We did not take it seriously at first. But then two people
died mysteriously shortly afterwards. That’s why I fled,” Meli disclosed.
William Meli has been in Britain for five years now and is believed to be
getting thousands of pounds sterling in benefits from government coffers.
Opposition politicians are not taking the issue lying down. A Conservative
Member of European Parliament Martin Callanan said: “This shows how chaotic
the country’s asylum system is.”
Photo: Home Secretary John Reid
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