President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday in Pretoria that the wave of
deadly violence against foreign nationals including Nigerians in South Africa
last month was an embarrassment to the continent.
According to details of his speech on the Nigerian presidency’s Twitter page,
President Buhari stated this at a town hall meeting with Nigerians living in
South Africa.
In September, rioting and attacks on foreigners led to at least 10 deaths,
dozens of injuries and hundreds of arrests, triggering anger at home and
abroad.
“The recent acts of xenophobic attacks on our compatriots and other Africans
in South Africa are shocking to me, Nigerians and indeed Africa.
“It was an embarrassment to the continent.
“As a government, we are quite disturbed by these very unfortunate events
and have taken actions and measures to address this issue and prevent their a
recurrence with the South African government,” he added.
Following the attacks, Buhari ordered the immediate voluntary evacuation of
all Nigerians wanting to return home and around 600 people were repatriated.
Buhari met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday.
Both leaders expressed regret at the violence in South Africa and the
subsequent reprisals in Nigeria against South African businesses, pledging
instead to deepen trade ties.
Buhari called for peace at the town hall meeting.
“The authorities have expressed their apologies over the incidents and have
resolved to take necessary steps to end this ugly trend in the interest of our
relationship.
“Let us, therefore, give peace a chance and pray we have seen the last of this
ugly violence,” he said.
