Ademola Oshodi, senior special assistant on foreign affairs to President Bola Tinubu, says Nigeria will not tolerate violence against its nationals in South Africa as protests against migrants kick off in the former apartheid country.
The protests are organised by anti-migration vigilante
groups, including March and March, who set an unofficial June 30 deadline for
undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa.
Organisers say they are focused on undocumented migrants and
will demonstrate peacefully, but lawful migrants have also complained of
targeted harassment.
“We are not calling for violence … No one will be killed on
30 June and no looting will take place in our name,” Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, the
leader of March and March, said.
At least two Nigerians have been killed since the xenophobic
protests resurged in South Africa.
Oshodi said in a statement that Nigeria has given South
Africa “enough warning”.
“The warning is simple: Nigeria expects action. Investigate
every reported attack, protect Nigerian communities, restrain vigilante groups,
prosecute wrongdoing, and activate the Nigeria–South Africa Early Warning
Mechanism without further delay,” he said.
“South Africa has every right to enforce its immigration
laws. But that responsibility belongs to the state, through lawful
institutions, not to mobs, vigilante groups, or political movements targeting
foreign nationals. No African should be attacked, threatened, denied
healthcare, pushed out of business, or humiliated because of where they come
from.
“Africa cannot speak of unity while Africans remain unsafe
in Africa. Coups, xenophobia, weak border cooperation, inherited colonial
divisions, and dependence on outside powers continue to pull the continent
apart.
“What should bring us together is more urgent: the
protection of African lives, democracy that delivers, stronger security
cooperation, lawful movement across our continent, and African solutions
financed by Africans.”
Oshodi said Nigeria stood with South Africa during its
struggle against apartheid, and as such, friendship cannot mean silence when
Nigerian lives are at risk.
On Monday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appealed
for peaceful demonstrations.
He warned that protesters involved in criminal conduct would
face the law, noting that while the right to protest is protected, it does not
extend to acts of violence.
So far, two evacuation flights, and a separate unofficial
flight, have brought back Nigerians who volunteered to return home.
The foreign ministry said the evacuation process is still on
course and more flights are expected in the country in the next few days to
evacuate all Nigerians that have been screened and cleared to voluntarily
return to the country.
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