Xenophobic attacks: South Africa angry over Nigeria recall of envoy
The South African government reacted angrily Sunday to
Nigeria's decision to recall its ambassador from Pretoria over a wave of mob
attacks on African migrants that killed at least seven people.
"We are not sure which actions or behaviour of the
South African Government the Nigerian Government is protesting," the South
African foreign ministry said in a statement, reports AFP.
"If this action is based on the incidents of attacks on
foreign nationals in some parts of our country, it would be curious for a
sisterly country to want to exploit such a painful episode for whatever
agenda," the ministry said, lamenting Nigeria's "unfortunate and
regrettable step."
Taking aim at its rival for economic and political dominance
in Africa, Pretoria said it had held off blaming Nigeria's government when 84
South Africans were killed in the collapse of a church building in Lagos last
year.
South Africa had also refrained from blaming Nigerian
authorities for the "more than nine months delay" in the repatriation
of the bodies "or for the fact that when these bodies eventually returned,
they were in a state that they could not be touched or viewed as required by
our burial practice."
The testy statement from Pretoria comes a day after Nigeria
announced it was recalling its ambassador in Pretoria for consultations over
"the on-going xenophobia" in the country.
South African President Jacob Zuma deployed troops last week
to quell the violence in Johannesburg and the port city of Durban, which forced
thousands of people from their homes over the past few weeks.
No deadly attacks have been reported in the past week.
The Nigerian foreign ministry said the attacks by mobs
accusing foreigners of stealing their jobs had "created fear and
uncertainty" among African migrants in "the former apartheid
enclave."
On Wednesday, the country's junior foreign minister Musiliu
Obanikoro summoned South Africa's High Commissioner in Abuja to demand Pretoria
take "concrete steps to quell the unrest".
Obanikoro also demanded South Africa compensate the victims
of the attacks.
Hundreds of Zimbabweans, Malawians and Mozambicans have been
repatriated by their governments over the unrest, which has drawn fierce
criticism of South Africans from Africans in other parts of the continent.
In its statement Sunday, South Africa's foreign ministry hit
back, reminding Nigeria of its own security shortcomings, as laid bare by the
Boko Haram insurgency.
"We hope that the more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko
Haram will someday be reunited with their families," South Africa said
referring to a group of students kidnapped in the northern Nigerian town of
Chibok that have been missing for over a year.
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