South Africa has closed its embassy in Nigeria following the recent anti-foreigner riots in South Africa that saw Nigerian nationals attacked.
South Africa’s Minister of Foreign Affairs ordered for the temporal closure of the embassy in Abuja and Lagos on Wednesday, citing fears for staff safety.
She condemned the attacked directed to Nigerians and other foreign residents in South Africa terming the act as “an embarrassment to the country”.
“Our government regrets all violence against foreign-owned stores or Africans from other countries who are resident in South Africa,” she said.
In the protests that began on Sunday, September 1st to Wednesday, September 4th, several businesses owned by Nigerians in Johannesburg were reported to have been burnt down and some killed.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, South Africans businesses in Nigeria were reportedly looted as Nigerians claimed to ‘revenge’ the attacks and killings of their brothers in South Africa.
Nigerian top musicians Burna Boy and Tiwa Savage also announced they were boycotting South Africa in response to the violence in Johannesburg.
To respond to claims that some Nigerians had been killed in South Africa, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said that the government is aware that Nigerians had been attacked but there is no evidence of any of them being killed.
He also urged Nigerians to stop attacking South African businesses saying that President Buhari was particularly distraught at the acts of vandalism.
While the government of Nigeria seems to have dismissed claims that its citizens were killed, it has come out forcefully to condemn South African actions towards its citizens.
Nigeria, apart from sending envoys to express “displeasure over the treatment of her citizens”, boycotted the World Economic Forum on Africa that is currently taking place in Cape Town and demanded compensation of its citizens, in protest at the violence.
The Nigerian foreign ministry said Air Peace, a commercial airline, offered to send an aircraft on Friday to evacuate nationals willing to return “free of charge”.
South African attacks sparked reactions from citizens from various African countries including Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and Madagascar.
The African Union (AU) on Tuesday, September 3rd also condemned the south African attacks terming it ‘despicable’.