Do they care? FG silent over attacks on Nigerians in SA

Following the absence of any form of formal response to the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, by the Nigerian government, the Nigerian community in that country has called on the Federal Government to put in place a mechanism to ensure their safety.

The President of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, Ikechukwu Anyene, urged the Federal Government to help halt the latest xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in that countrywhich began three weeks ago.

He noted that there are more than 800,000 Nigerians living in South Africa, and that those resident in some South African cities had gone into hiding to avoid being attacked by South Africans.

“The Nigerian government should urgently intervene and save our people from the attacks. They should prevail on the South African government to stop such attacks against Nigerians. It appears nothing is being done to stop the attacks and Nigerians are worried about the situation,’’ he said.

Anyene said during the attacks in Johannesburg last week, shops owned by Nigerians were looted and their owners seriously injured by the attackers.

Anyene said that since Nigeria and South Africa established diplomatic relations, there had not been a single incident of xenophobic attack against South Africans living in Nigeria.

At least six people have been killed in the last two weeks in attacks in the Indian Ocean city of Durban targeting shops and homes owned by Somalis, Ethiopians, Malawians and other immigrants.

Earlier this year, xenophobic violence also erupted in Soweto, near Johannesburg, as frustration deepens over lack of opportunities for many young blacks born since the end of apartheid in 1994.

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