By Seble Ephrem,
ERITREA’s passion for cycling is not news to those that have any inkling on the country’s history. In recent years a rising number of riders are being acknowledged for their professionalism, albeit reluctantly in many cases.
Only a few days ago Jock Boyer, the first American who participated in the Tour de France in 1981 gave an interview on RFI as head of the newly established Team Africa Rising.
The Eritrean cyclists chosen to attend training at the famous Swiss base World Cycling Centre (WCC) are being refused visas, while other African riders are being granted entry visas for Switzerland.
Diaspora Eritreans around the world are outraged at this unfair treatment and have petitioned the Swiss Embassy in Khartoum that is preventing the riders from training to enable them compete and achieve their potential.
If you agree, please sign the Petition by by clicking the button below and let the Swiss authorities understand that they need to separate politics from sports and not be so overtly discriminatory.
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ኤርትራውያን ተቐዳደምቲ ብሽክሌታ ሜሮን ተሾመ፡ መትከል እዮብን፡ ተስፎም ዑቕባማሪያምን ድሕሪ እቲ ኣብ ደቡብ ኣፍሪቃ ዝገበርዎ ልምምድ፡ ንዝለዓለ ትምህርቲ ከምቶም ዝሓለፉ ሙኩራት ኣሕዋቶም ዳኒኤል ተክለሃይማኖትና ናትናኤል ብርሃነን፡ ናብ ስዊዘርላንድ ንምኻድ ብ UCI ተፈቒዱሎም ክንሱ፡ መንግስቲ ስዊዘርላንድ መእተዊ ፍቓድ Visa ስለዝኸልኦም፡ ደጊሞም ናብ ደቡብ ኣፍሪቃ ንዘይተወሰነ ግዜ ክጸንሑ ተገዲዶም ኣለዉ። ነዚ ናይ መንግስቲ ስዊዘርላንድ መርገጺ ንምቅዋምን፡ ንኩሎም ተቐዳደምቲ ብሽክሌታ፡ ብሓደ ዓይኒ ክርእዮም ብምጥላብ ናይ ተቃውሞ ፌርማ ብምእካብ ንዝምልከቶ ኣካል ከነስምዕ ተዳሊና ኣሎና። ሃዬ ኩልኻ ተራባረብ። እዚ ተቃዋሚ ወይ ደጋፊ ዝበሃለሉ ጉዳይ ስለዘይኮነ።
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Petition to:
Ambassador, Embassy of Switzerland,Khartoum, Sudan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bern, Switzerland
STOP POLITICISING SPORT
Experts have rated Eritrea as “the strongest cycling nation in Africa”.
Jock Boyer, the first American of colour to enter Tour de France in 1981 is now leading African hopefuls to take part in this coveted race. He has identified high potential in Eritrean riders who have shown stellar talent as cyclists.
By preventing Eritrean riders from training, The Swiss Government is being blatantly unjust and should not be mixing politics to prevent the rise of future cycling celebrities.
We are petitioning the Swiss Government to grant Eritrean riders the required visas to enable them train at the World Cycling Center (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland.
Let Eritrean riders participate equally and fairly among their brightest peers.
