Nigeria, South Africa Tensive over Xenophobic Attacks

Between Sunday and Wednesday, mobs looted and destroyed shops, many of them foreign-owned, in South Africa’s commercial hub, Johannesburg. Nigeria’s government has been outspoken in its condemnation of the violence.

Police say the unrest has subsided and more than 420 arrests have been made. South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, called the violence an embarrassment for her country.

“Our government regrets all violence against foreign-owned stores or Africans from other countries who are resident in South Africa,” she was quoted as saying by national broadcaster SABC.

Videos and images that have been shared on social media purporting to show Nigerians being attacked and killed have inflamed tensions.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, South African-owned businesses were targeted by protesters in several Nigerian cities, and the looters said the attacks were reprisals for the killing of Nigerians in South Africa. South African telecoms giant MTN closed its shops as a precaution.

In response to the violence in Johannesburg, two of Nigeria’s top musicians, Burna Boy And Tiwa Savage, announced they were boycotting South Africa.

Seven people have been killed in the trouble in South Africa but none of the victims have been identified as Nigerian.

On Wednesday, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told journalists: “There are a lot of stories going around of Nigerians being killed, jumping off buildings and being burnt. This is not the case.”

While the government believes Nigerian businesses have been targeted in South Africa, he added, it has no evidence that Nigerians have died.

Mr Onyeama also urged people to stop attacking South African businesses in Nigeria, saying that President Muhammadu Buhari was “particularly distraught at the acts of vandalism”.

Despite disputing the accounts of Nigerians dying in South Africa, the Nigerian government has been forceful in its condemnation of events there.

On Wednesday, it announced it was boycotting the World Economic Forum on Africa that is currently taking place in Cape Town in protest at the violence.

“The government believes that we have to take the moral high ground on this matter,” Mr Onyeama said.

The president has also sent an envoy to South Africa to “express Nigeria’s displeasure over the treatment of her citizens”.

Nigerians often criticise the authorities for being slow to respond to domestic crises and the government is keen to be seen to be taking action over attacks in South Africa, said the BBC’s Nigeria correspondent, Mayeni Jones. (BBC)