Dozens of people camp in a corridor close to the offices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Cape Town, demanding to be removed from South Africa saying they were no longer safe. |
Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA
Dozens of foreign nationals on Wednesday camped
outside the Cape Town offices of the UN refugee agency demanding to be removed
from South Africa, and saying they were no longer safe.
Around
250 foreigners, many claiming to be asylum seekers from various African
countries, vowed not to leave the premises until the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) addressed their concerns.
Wrapped
in blankets, women and children lay on mats, while men paced up and down,
according to AFP journalists.
"We
are here because we want the UN and other organisations to help... refugees, to
take us somewhere safe," said Radjab Mugemangango 47, a Rwandan Uber
driver.
"There
is no peace in South Africa, it's not safe!" said an emotional
Mugemangango.
In
August and early September, the country saw a wave of xenophobic violence that
left 12 people killed, most of them South Africans, when mobs descended on
foreign-owned stores in and around Johannesburg, destroying properties and
looting.
South
Africa is a magnet for economic migrants searching for better job prospects and
asylum seekers looking for safety.
The
continent's most industrialised economy attracts people from neighbouring
Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Others
come from farther afield including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda,
Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and South Asian countries.
Seen
as competing with locals for jobs, they are often the first to come under fire
when South Africa's chronic unemployment, inequality and poverty boils into
xenophobic outlash.
"They
are saying foreigners are taking our jobs, foreigners are taking our
women," said Papi Sukami, from the DRC.
"Everywhere
we are facing discrimination, there is no dignity for refugees in this country.
We are tired," said Sukami, pleading with the UNHCR to "find peace
for us".
UNHCR
officials were no immediately reachable for comment.
Nigerian
President Muhammadu Buhari last week denounced recent xenophobic violence in
South Africa as an "embarrassment" for the continent, as he wrapped
up a state visit here.
The
violence sparked fury in Nigeria and saw hundreds of migrant workers repatriated.
No comments:
Post a Comment