Nigeria Ends Repatriation Of 1,500 Citizens From South Africa

Nigeria said it has completed the evacuation of its citizens from South Africa this week, airlifting nearly 1,500 people as anti-illegal immigration groups piled pressure on undocumented foreigners to leave the country.

Foreign nationals from several African countries, including Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe, have been leaving South Africa for weeks under government-assisted repatriation programmes.

South Africa, long a destination for documented and undocumented African workers, has been rocked by weeks of protests and unrest targeting immigrants, who stand accused of taking jobs and resources.

“It has ended,” Nigeria’s foreign ministry spokesman Kimiebi Ebienfa told AFP on Friday after airlifting of 1,490 Nigerians between June 10 and July 15.

The departures began after fringe South African groups ramped up demands for undocumented migrants to leave by June 30, sparking violent protests and clashes that killed at least four foreign nationals.

Malawi said earlier in July it had brought back 38,000 nationals in just a month, while Zimbabwe reported repatriating nearly 21,300 citizens.

Uganda’s government said around 1,100 of its nationals had been repatriated, while hundreds of Ghanaians, Mozambicans and Kenyans have also left.

Nigeria’s foreign minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu said earlier this month that the situation for foreigners in South Africa was deteriorating and urged authorities to investigate the June 28 killings of two Nigerians, Musa Yunana Joe and Charles Iroegbu, during “the ongoing xenophobic protests and attacks of migrants”.

But South African police said the deaths were not connected to the protests.

Still, South African authorities have been accused of not doing enough to stop the violence, which has seen shops owned by immigrants burned and looted.

“While appreciating the longstanding bilateral relations between Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa, the Federal Government reiterates its firm position that all forms of xenophobia, racial intolerance and violence against foreign nationals are unacceptable,” Ebienfa said in a statement on Thursday.

Despite a handful of Nigerian lawmakers calling for a hardline response, Ebienfa said Abuja will continue to “engage constructively with the South African Government through diplomatic channels”.