MOTHER DEPORTED WITHOUT BABY

IT’S BEEN nine months since Mariam Soumah, a 23-year-old Guinean woman, says she last saw her baby girl Sabina.

- 

MARIAM Soumah at her home in Conakry. It's been nine months since Soumah, a 23-year-old Guinean woman, saw her baby girl Sabina. The mother is in West African Guinea, while her daughter is, against her will, in an orphanage in Belarus.

(AFP)

The mother is in Guinea, while her daughter is — against her will - in an orphanage in Belarus.Several months ago, Belarus forcibly deported the young migrant mother to her west African homeland without her baby, according to Soumah and rights groups that have taken up her case.

The reports drew condemnation by UN experts, rights groups and Guinean diplomats.

“I begged them not to do it? Soumah told AFP during an interview in the slums of Guinea's capital Conakry, swiping through recent photos on her phone of Sabina - who turned one in November - wearing a red dress.

In a bid to escape poverty, Soumah said she had travelled across Africa to get to Belarus, hoping to get to the EU.

The migration route has become popular in recent years, with the EU accusing the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging migrants to try to enter the bloc via Belarus.

Like many, Soumah was lured online to come to authoritarian Belarus on a student visa.

“I didn’t want to go (to Europe) by sea. I looked on a map and saw Belarus was surrounded by Schengen countries.”

Her ordeal began in Belarus just as she tried to renew her visa.