Men ‘lured’ into fighting in the Ukraine war say Africans were subjected to worse treatment on the front lines. Durban, South Africa – When Sipho Dlamini* stepped off a plane from Russia, returning home to the South African port city of Durban last week, he carried nothing but the clothes on his back. “They made us burn everything we had,” the 32-year-old said. “Clothes, documents, even family photos. From the start, it was hell.” Dlamini is one of more than a dozen South Africans repatriated from Russia, where they say they were lured under false pretences and thrust onto the front lines of the war in Ukraine – mirroring the experience of other African men from countries including Kenya and Zimbabwe. In November last year, it came to light that several South Africans aged between 20 a...