London, 21 April-(ANA)-A nine-year-old schoolboy has been given leave to remain in the UK instead of being forcibly returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo after his case was highlighted by the UK newspaper The Guardian.
The campaigners at Didsbury CE primary school, Manchester, were concerned about the fate of Tony Lola, a year 5 pupil, who is a failed asylum seeker.
The Home Office's original decision to deport him and his mother had horrified his school friends and staff.
But today it emerged that Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, has granted Tony and his mother, Mireille Maswa, leave to remain in the UK.
The news comes just a month after the Guardian reported the plight of Lola and his mother.
The school organised a petition that collected thousands of signatures and the children urged the home secretary to reverse the decision to deport Tony.
When Tony's mother, Mireille Maswa, lived in the DRC, she was an activist in the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, a party opposed to the government of Joseph Kabila. She arrived in the UK seven years ago, leaving her young son with relatives. During Christmas 2005, when he was six years old, he was arrested and held in Congolese police custody. Following his release, his family sent him to the UK where he applied for asylum status with his mother.
Tony is thriving at a school whose catchment area is predominantly white and middle-class. His teacher, Chris Briggs, said: "When he came to the school three years ago, Tony had very little English, but he is now on a level with his peers and is a very articulate and bright lad. He is polite and eager to learn. He is a member of the choir, and plays football and acoustic guitar. He was voted a school councillor by his peers.(ANA)
