Nigerian lawyers set to sue China over coronavirus outbreak

The clamour to make China pay is growing louder and the latest on the list is Nigeria.

A group of Nigerian lawyers is suing China. They are demanding $200 billion from Beijing. The damages are being sought for the “loss of lives, economic strangulation, trauma, hardship, social disorientation, mental torture and disruption of the normal, daily existence of people in Nigeria.”

The lawyers have a two-phase action plan. First,to go to the Federal High Court of Nigeria. And then to persuade the government to sue China at the International Court of Justice.

Africa's anger against china is being fueled by the racist attacks Africans are facing in China. They are battling discrimination and stigma.

Racism and xenophobia are on the rise in China. Reports say thousands of African-origin people have been left homeless after being evicted over fears that they could be spreading the coronavirus.

This is apparently linked to a cluster of COVID-19 cases in the Nigerian community in the southern city of Guangzhou in China.

The African students residing in the area say that they have been subjected to arbitrary quarantines and forced evictions.

The African Union earlier this month expressed its "extreme concern" about the situation in Guangzhou and called on Beijing to take immediate corrective measures.

Several African ambassadors in China have written to the country's foreign minister over the discrimination faced by Africans.

But the hands of these governments are tied, most of them have taken billions of dollars of Chinese loans.

Nearly two decades of lending has made china Africa's top creditor. The continent now faces multiple challenges - repaying China's loans, fighting Wuhan virus and dealing with China's racism.