World Tour - Foreign students flee Ukraine

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour. Here now is our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Foreign students flee Ukraine—We start today in North Africa.

Parents in Tunisia welcomed home the first group of African students evacuated from Ukraine last week. This woman spoke through an interpreter.

AUDIO: I am very happy because my son returned. I am also happy for the others. We hope that all our children will make it back.

About 16,000 Africans study at universities in Ukraine. Many of them fled along with Ukrainians as Russian forces advanced. But students from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East reported mistreatment by border officials when they tried to cross into neighboring countries.

African leaders scrambled to airlift students from Poland, Romania, and Hungary.

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey is Ghana's minister for foreign affairs.

BOTCHWEY: Evacuation options were limited as Ukraine closed its airspace at the start of the military operations. This left, as the only viable option, evacuation by land to neighboring countries such as Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic and even Russia.

A group known as Black Foreigners in Ukraine has rallied support online for African students. The volunteers coordinated funds, shared updates on border points, and partnered with organizations to help students get settled in other countries.

The volunteers are working on long-term plans for students now spread across other European nations, including options for them to transfer their credits and continue their studies.

Burkina Faso gets a new government—Next we go to Burkina Faso.

The military leader who took over the government in January signed a charter authorizing a transitional government last week.

AUDIO: [Man speaking French]

The country’s new prime minister said the government would focus on fighting terrorism, restoring national territory, responding to the country’s humanitarian crisis and improving governance. He also noted the need for national reconciliation and social cohesion.

The military initially asked for 30 months to accomplish its goals. But the new charter calls for a 36-month transition. It also makes junta leader Lt. Colonel Henri-Paul Damiba and the other 25 members of the transitional government ineligible to run for office when elections are finally held.

Iraq’s national museum reopens—Next we go to the Middle East.

AUDIO: [Sound of people talking in museum]

Iraq’s national museum reopened on Monday for the first time in three years.

The museum contains artifacts dating back 2,500 years to the neo-Assyrian empire.

Looters stripped the museum in 2003 amid the chaos that followed the U.S. military operations that deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. Officials have recovered about one-third of the 15,000 items taken then.

A little over 10 years later, Islamic State militants raided historic sites all over Iraq, destroying or selling antiquities to raise funds. Officials have recovered more than 18,000 of those items in the past year alone. Many came from the United States.

Sheep run ends Paris agriculture show—And finally, we end today in Europe.

AUDIO: [Sound of sheep, bells]

Thousands of sheep trotted down the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday. It was a symbolic show of transhumance—the traditional practice of moving herds from one pasture to another as the seasons change.

French farmers have applied to have the practice recognized by Unesco as an important cultural tradition.

Sunday’s urban transhumance marked the end of the Paris International Agricultural Show. The week-long event showcases farming and food trends from across France.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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