Nigeria, South Africa Hold Closed-Door Talks Over Recent Xenophobic Attacks

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, is currently in a closed-door meeting with South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, who is leading a special presidential delegation to Nigeria over the recent wave of xenophobic attacks targeting foreign nationals.

At the start of the meeting, the South African delegation maintained that its government has the sovereign right to enforce its immigration laws, stressing that authorities have a responsibility to tackle criminality, including drug trafficking and other offences allegedly involving some immigrants.

Responding, Nigeria strongly condemned the attacks, describing them as unacceptable and warning that the incidents appear to reflect a disturbing pattern of Afrophobic violence against Nigerians and other African nationals living in South Africa.

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Ambassador Enikanolaiye reminded the South African delegation of Nigeria’s historic role in the struggle to dismantle apartheid, insisting that Afrophobic attacks cannot be justified or condoned under any circumstance.

He noted that about 98 Nigerians have lost their lives in previous xenophobic-related attacks in South Africa, adding that the repeated incidents underscore the need for frank and honest engagement between both countries.