Rapatriements au Ghana: l'Afrique du Sud dénonce des "spectacles médiatiques"
Pretoria "will no longer tolerate media spectacles" of repatriations organized by Ghana in response to sometimes deadly xenophobic tensions in South Africa, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola warned on Saturday.
Ghana chartered another flight on Saturday repatriating nearly 350 of its citizens, following an initial flight of 300 passengers last week. A video showing elected officials waving Ghanaian flags in the aircraft cabin was released by the Ghanaian embassy in South Africa on Saturday to announce its departure.
"Our initial intention was simply to help the Ghanaian government repatriate its citizens in humane and cordial conditions. However, we will no longer tolerate these media spectacles, characterized by incomplete information or pure disinformation and devoid of any diplomatic sense," wrote Ronald Lamola on the social network X in reaction to an interview with his Ghanaian counterpart.
The latter, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, mentioned in an interview with Ghanaian radio station Joy FM the deaths of five Mozambicans and two Nigerians in xenophobic violence, which Pretoria disputes.
Although two Mozambican nationals have been killed in Mossel Bay (south) since the first repatriation flight "in connection with anti-foreigner demonstrations", according to South African police, "no Nigerian nationals have been killed in the current wave of attacks in South Africa", says Ronald Lamola.
Demonstrations organized for weeks across South Africa, denouncing undocumented foreigners as scapegoats for mass unemployment and widespread crime, degenerated into violence last weekend in the city of Mossel Bay, located on the coast nearly 400 km east of Cape Town.
More than 50 homes were burned down. An AFP team observed ruined shacks, already looted or being dismantled by residents who plan to occupy them.
Some 600 Mozambicans fled Mossel Bay and returned to their country in the days following the violence, according to authorities.
The two Mozambicans who died in Mossel Bay, aged 27 and 43, are the first foreigners recorded as having been killed since the start of the months-long campaign against undocumented African migrants.
They led to demonstrations across the country which never exceeded a few thousand people, but were accompanied by a torrent of xenophobic hate online.
Tensions have escalated since an anti-illegal immigration group last month ordered all undocumented foreigners to leave the country by June 30.
In its wake, informal groups have conducted door-to-door operations in several cities across the country to order foreigners - or those suspected of being foreigners - to pack their bags.
Ghana and Mozambique have already repatriated hundreds of their nationals, and Malawi and Nigeria have announced that they will do the same.
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