South Africa

Mbeki has approved army deployment

Article published on the 2008-05-21 Latest update 2008-05-21 17:43 TU

Zimbabwean refugees at a police station
(Photo: V. Hirsch/RFI)

President Thabo Mbeki has approved army deployment to halt the anti-immigrant violence that has spread from Johannesburg to Durban, which has left 24 dead. While Johannesburg enjoyed its quietest night after more than a week of assaults, looting and rapes, an outbreak of violence in Durban raised fears that unrest could spread to the rest of the country.

A police spokeswoman in the eastern KwaZulu Natal province said that a Nigerian-owned business had been one of the targets of a mob in Durban's impoverished suburb of Umbilo. She said that over 200 youths carrying bottles and wooden clubs were gathering on the streets and attacking people.

Calling it "one of the most unfortunate incidents in the recent history of South Africa", independent political commentator Somadoda Fikeni spoke to RFI from Johannesburg about the current violence. Part of the problem is the government's failure to deal with the extremely poor, he said.

"But it also indicates the isolated nature of some who may not understand the role that African countries have played in hosting South Africans who were in exile," he added.

Nigerian government officials plan to meet their South African counterparts on Thursday on the fringes of a pre-African Union summit in Tanzania to discuss the violence.