View noticesSA pushes Africa-wide talks after anti-immigrant protests
South Africa's government is pushing for Africa-wide talks on migration while managing the fallout from anti-immigration protests that have forced many migrants to leave the country and created diplomatic tensions with several African counterparts, the Associated Press reports.
The country has faced backlash over protests calling for the deportation of undocumented migrants, alongside reports of violent attacks against migrants. South African officials believe broader migration talks involving all African nations could address the underlying causes of the continent-wide migration crisis, rather than treating South Africa's situation in isolation.
The African Union, which comprises 55 member states, last week rejected a proposal from Ghana to add South Africa's migration tensions to the agenda of the bloc's next coordination meeting in October. South Africa opposed the proposal, arguing it would single the country out without addressing the wider crisis.
The issue is expected to feature in discussions among national leaders later this month at a Southern African Development Community summit in Durban, where South Africa is pushing for a broader conversation involving all African Union members. Countries expected at the talks include Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, all of which have been repatriating nationals from South Africa.
South Africa's international relations minister, Ronald Lamola, said this week that the talks would address the factors driving irregular migration across the continent, including in North Africa. According to Lamola, his government wants an Africa-wide discussion on the migration crisis, which has encompassed both irregular entry into South Africa and last week's chaotic crossing of thousands of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta, in which more than 80 people died.
Lamola said South Africa wants to approach the issue by examining the "push-pull factors" driving people to migrate from their home countries. He has met with other national officials over the past two weeks, including Ghanaian president John Dramani Mahama and a representative of Nigerian president Bola Tinubu.
Anti-illegal immigration groups in South Africa have called for the deportation of undocumented migrants and have pledged to continue weekly protests to pressure the government into accelerating deportations, enforcing immigration laws and tightening border security. Some migrants have said they were violently attacked by protesters.
According to the South African government, at least 68,000 people were repatriated from the country between June and July, including both voluntary departures and formal deportations of people found to lack the required documentation. While the exact breakdown remains unclear, most of those repatriated were Malawian nationals, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans. South Africa's Border Management Agency has also scaled back capacity at its temporary repatriation facility in Musina, near the Beitbridge border post with Zimbabwe, from 20,000 to 1,500 people.
SOURCE LINK: https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-migration-african-union-cueta-2cd29b78a94636ec67b8fc8c6683b9fe