By RFIPalled on 04-09-2019Modified on 04-09-2019 at 16:50
Since last weekend, scenes of looting have broken out in and around Johannesburg. The shops owned by non-South Africans are looted, burned and five dead are for the moment to deplore. For their part, African countries react.
On Tuesday, September 3, the Nigerian government condemned the attacks against its nationals. President Muhammadu Buhari sent a special envoy to South Africa.
Also condemned by the President of the African Union Commission , Moussa Faki Mahamat.
Several countries have also decided to boycott the World Economic Forum on Africa which opens Wednesday in Cape Town, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi or Rwanda.
Two neighbors from South Africa, Botswana and Lesotho, have also warned their nationals traveling to South Africa.
The convictions are all the stronger as the phenomenon of xenophobia is not new in this country that hosts millions of nationals from all over the continent. And that is the big question: is it criminal and spontaneous, as the police say, or xenophobic, organized, planned acts?
Statement: The Right2Know Campaign strongly condemned the recent spate of attacks on foreign nationals. #OngaziMakazi #UbuntuMabande #JoburgCBD #NoToXenophobia
Read full statement here: https://t.co/gOgqPaSFyR pic.twitter.com/H07bHdhOTj
" They loot, burn and no one is arrested "
For Daniel Byamungu of the Right to Know NGO, these incidents are clearly xenophobic and worrying. " Before, people were attacking, but there was no one who presented themselves as the face or the leader of these attacks. Now, no one is afraid, people openly go on TV or radio and say, 'We are chasing foreigners'. They loot, burn and no one is arrested. This shows that it's worse than before. The RET (Radical Economic Transformation), a large organization, truck drivers, young people, who have small shops, etc., all these groups organized themselves to clean and chase foreigners. They talk about their dissatisfaction with foreigners and want to restore the sovereignty of their country. That's what he says
According to the police, more than 200 people were arrested during the looting. Five people also died in still unclear circumstances.
On Tuesday, South African head of state Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the violence as unacceptable. A reaction deemed late, and weak by different human rights organizations.
On the same subject
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