Nigeria’s foreign ministry summoned South Africa’s high commissioner over anti-immigrant attacks in the the continent’s second-largest economy, as its Lagos consulate was closed after protests. This is according to bloomberg business.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Musiliu Obanikoro spoke to Lulu Mnguni in Abuja, the capital, on April 20 and condemned the “on-going xenophobic attacks against fellow Africans in South Africa,” the Nigerian foreign ministry said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.
Obanikoro called on South Africa’s government to punish the culprits and compensate victims. Mnguni said South Africa was doing “everything humanly possible” to end the violence.
South African shut its consulate in Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos, on Tuesday until Thursday after unspecified social media comments by Nigerians, George Nesengane, the mission’s first political secretary, said by phone on Wednesday.
Earlier in Alexandra, four men appeared briefly in court over the incident that raised the pressure on South Africa’s government to take tougher action. The four are accused of murdering a Mozambican national.
The xenophobic attacks have left at least seven people dead.
