This archive report was first published on 17 June 2020.
On June 16, 2020, Kenya witnessed a mass exodus of Chinese nationals, with nearly 200 individuals departing from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the dead of night.
The decision to evacuate the Chinese nationals in two groups was made in accordance with COVID-19 directives, as explained by their lawyer, Isaac Okinyo, in a report published on June 17, 2020.
"The remaining 200 will leave in the course of the week," Okinyo stated. "We were expecting all of them to leave at once, but considering the social-distancing rule and the new sitting arrangement, they could not leave at once."
The evacuation was made possible after the High Court granted the Chinese Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs permission to allow the nationals to return to China.
The Chinese nationals had been subjected to racism following the outbreak of the pandemic in China and its subsequent spread worldwide.
China's Ambassador to Kenya, Wu Peng, is also expected to leave the country after being recalled by his government.
Kenya had imposed a ban on international flights in March 2020, but later allowed other countries to evacuate their citizens under strict conditions.
