SOUTH AFRICA: South African president calls for end to xenophobic attacks, while Malawians return home with tales of violence

Record ID: 348224

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: South African president calls for end to xenophobic attacks, while Malawians return home with tales of violence
  • Date: 26th May 2008
  • Summary: FAMILY ARRIVING AT THE BORDER
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAHY02D5D3KUFU9Z1MDCB6ATEL
  • Story Text: South African President Thabo Mbeki and African National Congress Leader Jacob Zuma appeals for South Africans to solve disputes through negotiations, not bloodshed. Malawians fleeing South Africa back to their homeland tell stories of violence committed against immigrants.
    South African leaders, President Thabo Mbeki and African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma called for an end to a two-week wave of anti-migrant violence on Sunday (May 25).
    Mbeki made a televised address to the nation on state broadcaster SABC.

    "Humanity, democracy and protection of the law are indivisible.
    What begins as attacks on people from other countries also involves, as we have seen, the killing, the raping, the looting of property belonging to fellow South Africans. Everything possible will be done to bring the perpetrators to justice," Mbeki said.
    Zuma issued his appeal while addressing a crowd of ANC supporters in Bakerton township.
    Speaking to hundreds of ANC supporters, Zuma appealed for calm and urged the residents to be tolerant of African immigrants.

    "People, I am asking that peace should prevail in this area. I am going to come back to listen to your grievances and try to sort out the problems but while I'm still away, please let there be peace in this area," Zuma said.
    He told the crowd that South Africa's neighbours contributed immensely to the liberation of the country and should be treated properly.
    The ANC government has been criticised for its slow reaction to the unrest, the worst since apartheid ended 14 years ago. It has also been accused of not dealing adequately with poverty, a factor widely blamed for sparking the bloodshed.
    More than 25,000 have been driven from their homes across the nation by mobs who have stabbed, clubbed and burnt migrants, whom they accuse of taking jobs and fuelling crime. The violence started in the Alexandra township in Johannesburg on May 11.
    Police, backed by the military, were continuing to monitor trouble spots, especially in the volatile shantytowns around Johannesburg. Violence has spread to other areas in south Africa including Cape Town.
    Earlier this week Mbeki authorised the army to help quell the violence.
    Thousands of migrants, especially from neighbouring Mozambique, have returned home.
    In Malawi, some of those fleeing the xenophobic attacks in South Africa were arriving at the Mwanza border post between Mozambique and Malawi on Saturday (May 24). They told stories of severe violence they had suffered at first hand.
    South African authorities said a Malawian man was shot in Durban overnight and three other foreigners were stabbed in North West Province.
    Malawi said it had begun evacuating more than 850 of its citizens.

    "The situation is too bad there. I am happy to be back safely. I just can't imagine how many people have been tortured and killed by now,"
    one man returning home.
    George Tambani, a Malawi resident returning, showed his head wound and told of his experiences in South Africa. "I rushed away and slept in a bush. But when I went back to report for duties, I met an angry mob that started beating me severely. But I managed to escape. Look, this is where they stabbed me with a knife but they failed to kill me. They hit me on the head with a club," he said.
    Peter Filimoni, another Malawian crossing the border on Saturday, said he was surprised that South African police did not intervene to stop the violence he witnessed.
    Malawian Ndaouna Chauluka said: "If my country decides today to chase South Africans what's going to happen next? We are going to cause war.
    We don't need that." "
    An unidentified student said the violence had dashed hopes for a future in South Africa. "At first we used to have hope in South Africa.
    We are having many relatives living in South Africa. Others are working there, others are helping in the development of South Africa. But it's now pity that people are being killed as of now as we are talking now there is riots going on, something pitiful," he said.
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