Xenophobia Row: Ghana and Nigeria Take South Africa to the AU

• Nigeria and Ghana joined forces at the ECOWAS Mid-Year Summit in Freetown to address xenophobic attacks on African migrants in South Africa
• Ghana revealed it had secured full backing from fellow regional states for its petition to the African Union over the violence
• South Africa's presidential spokesperson responded, saying Pretoria would resist efforts to use the issue to isolate the country

AFRICA - Nigeria and Ghana have formed a united front against what they describe as xenophobic violence targeting African migrants in South Africa. The two countries came together on the sidelines of the ECOWAS Mid-Year Summit held in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on Friday.

The two countries have resolved to take South Africa to the African Union over what they see as a surge of xenophobia in the country.

Nigeria and Ghana condemn xenophobic attacks

Nigeria's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sola Enikanolaiye, and Ghana's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Ablakwa, met to address the wave of attacks on foreign nationals and what both governments see as a threat to the principles of Pan-Africanism.

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"Migrants should not be subjected to mob violence or collective punishment based on their nationality," a joint statement from the two ministers read.

The meeting also produced a firm stance on how African migrants accused of criminal activity should be handled. Both ministers stressed that those who break the law must face it through proper legal channels, not vigilante violence that frequently sweeps up law-abiding migrants along with those being targeted.

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Ghana takes the fight to the African Union

Ghana went further over the weekend, announcing that it had received the full backing of fellow regional states for a petition it submitted to the African Union. The move signals that the diplomatic pressure on South Africa is building beyond bilateral conversations.

South Africa's presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, responded by telling the Mail and Guardian that Pretoria would not allow the matter to be used as a tool to isolate the country internationally.

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"We have welcomed the opportunity to place the issue of migration on the AU agenda, where we can discuss both the pull and push factors of migration," Magwenya said.

The statement suggests South Africa is willing to engage with the broader migration debate at a continental level, while pushing back against what it sees as an unfair framing of the situation domestically.

Articles on African countries response to SA's immigration crisis

• Briefly News reported that Ghana called in South Africa’s Acting High Commissioner, Thando Dalamba, following reports of xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals, including Ghanaians.
• Nigerians called on their South African government and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) to do more to help them return home.
• African countries have cautioned African migrants in to exercise ‘heightened vigilance’ amid fears of xenophobic attacks during marches in Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Source: Briefly News