South Africa and Nigeria have agreed to jointly launch and manage an ‘early warning’ system to track and deter xenophobic attacks against migrants in both countries..
This was made known in a press briefing hosted in Pretoria by South African foreign minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, following a closed door meeting with her Nigerian counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama.
According to Nkoana-Mashabane, the meeting was held in a bid to diffuse soaring tensions over a recent string of attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa.
She said that the proposed early warning centre would allow both country keep each other abreast of issues and help prevent violence.
She however denied that the xenophobic attacks were mainly targeted at Nigerians.
“The early warning centre would allow us keep each other abreast of issues and help prevent violence
“It is untrue that the attacks on foreign nationals were targeted at the Nigerians”, she said, adding that citizens of other countries were also affected.
Onyeama, on his part, said he had received assurances that Nigerians in South Africa would be able to live in peace and called for an end to “mass attacks”.
