Nigeria's foreign minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu said Monday that anti-immigrant violence in South Africa shows no signs of letting up, as two Nigerian nationals have been killed and tens of thousands of foreigners have fled the country.
Violence targets undocumented migrants
For weeks, South Africa has seen protests, some violent, against undocumented immigrants, who are blamed for taking jobs and resources. Those with proper documents have also been targeted as citizens take matters into their own hands over pressing social problems that analysts say stem largely from government failures to provide services.
Growing security fears have already prompted tens of thousands of people from other African nations, including Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Liberia, to leave.
Nigeria calls for investigation into deaths
Odumegwu-Ojukwu reiterated a call for South African authorities to investigate the deaths of two Nigerian nationals on June 28: Musa Yunana Joe and Charles Iroegbu, killed amid “the ongoing xenophobic protests and attacks of migrants,” according to the foreign minister.
South African police said the first death was an isolated shooting that did not appear related to the protests. They rejected as “baseless” attempts to link the second death to the protests, saying it occurred when the man collapsed and died while being taken into custody for alleged drug possession.
Chrispin Phiri, South African foreign ministry spokesperson, said the government had repeatedly asked the Nigerian high commission to submit “any actionable information to our law enforcement authorities, which will enable a thorough, objective investigation in accordance with the rule of law.”
Thousands leave South Africa
The deaths of foreigners have drawn outsized attention from their home governments amid heightened tensions, though South Africa has a longstanding violent crime problem that predates the outbreak of xenophobic violence. South African authorities have been accused of not doing enough to crack down on the violence, which has killed at least four foreign nationals and seen shops owned by immigrants burned and looted.
Separately, Ghana and South Africa were embroiled in a diplomatic row last week following the killing of a Ghanaian national. Pretoria said the death of Bashiru Isak was not linked to the anti-immigrant protests.
More than 35,000 people had been either officially repatriated or deported from South Africa since June 7, the country's border authority said last week. The police announced Monday that they had arrested more than 6,800 illegal migrants in the week of June 29 to July 5.
