Foreign News
Xenophobic: ‘We’ve Drawn The Red Line Against South Africa’
- Says It’s Unacceptable, Enough Is Enough
- Asks Nigerians Not to Retaliate
By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
Nigerian Foreign Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama has warned the South African government against any form of xenophobic attacks on Nigerian citizens in the south coast country.
The minister also confirmed that Nigeria has boycotted the World Economic Forum scheduled for South Africa taking place on September 4-6.
Onyeama gave the warning on Wesnesday while speaking to State House correspondents after he met with President Muhammadu Bubari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said that President Buhari agreed with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo not to go to South Africa under the climate of xenophobic attacks.
The minister stressed that red line has been drawn against South Africa, warning ”enough is enough. We can’t allow any of our city to be killed in South Africa and we demand full compensation for their properties destroyed in South Africa.”
He said that recalling of Nigerian ambassador to South Africa, was one of the options the government would use in resolving the issue.
He added that the final decision will be taken after the report of the special envoy sent to South Africa.
The minister while giving an update on the xenophobic attacks said: “We have made it clear that what has happened in South Africa is totally unacceptable.
”We will not accept it and as I said earlier, enough is enough and we are not going to come back to this, we are going to address it once and for all.
”This is the position of government that we are going to draw a redline here. Whatever measures that needs to be taken to ensure the safety of Nigerians in South Africa, we will take.
“We have been in touch with the South African government at the very highest level with the President of South Africa as to what we want to achieve. The special envoy has very clear directives about the commitment and the guarantees that we expect from the South African government.
”Of course, a lot of things have been circulating in the social media which have not helped matters. Some of them have really distorted the situation and because of that have impacted our response.
”So, number one is that the information we have from the High Commission, from the Consul General in South Africa is that no Nigerian life has been lost during this crisis. And I think that is very important because on social media, there is a lot of stories going around of Nigerians being killed, jumping off buildings and being burnt. This is not the case.
”What we know is that premises, shops of Nigerians have been looted and property destroyed.
Confirming the withdrawal of Nigeria’s participation in the World Economic Forum in South Africa, he said that the Vice President was scheduled to go to South Africa tomorrow (Thursday) to attend the World Economic Forum, ”clearly with this climate, he and Mr. President have agreed that he should not go to the World Economic Forum in Cape town and we are looking at other measures to take.”
He said that Mr. President was particularly disturbed at the act of vandalism that has taken place here in Nigeria, in retaliation of what is happening in South Africa.
Onyeama stressed that the government believes that they have to take the moral high ground on this matter.
”We are victims here and have made that position clear to the international community and to the South African government. We here in Nigeria must not fall into the temptation of also resorting to the acts that we are condemning in others.
”Mr. President has pleaded and he is likely to make a statement on this, addressing the Nigerian people to please desist from acts of vandalism and aggression, destroying properties.”
The Federal govgovern appealed to Nigerians back home to remain calm, warning against taking attacking south African businesses in Nigeria.
He said that ”these businesses- Shoprite, MTN and others, yes there are South African but these are subsidiaries in Nigeria owned by Nigerians. So, as attacks are made against Shoprite and other such institutions, it is actually the property owned by Nigerians within Nigeria and the people working there are Nigerians.”
”So the people that will suffer from those acts of vandalism and aggression are not South Africans or anyone else but Nigerians. But morally, it is wrong not even because of who will suffer and not suffer.
Mr. President is appealing to Nigerians, the government is acting, we cannot state everything, our everything in public domain with regards to what we are doing obviously, but we want to assure all Nigerians that this government is determined that the redline has been drawn and we will not give in on this occasion and that the South African government has to assumed its responsibilities and do the right thing. Protect Nigerians and other Africans I might say in South Africa and we have to hold them to count. Full compensation has to be paid because as we have discovered from previous experience, a lot of these Nigerians loss their property and it is a long drawn out process and every often are not compensated for it. But on this occasion, the Nigerian government is going to fight for full compensation and hold the government of South Africa to count. And we are going to consider other options to ensure that the message gets across to the government of South Africa.
It is not a question of weakness or anything of the sort but we have to move decisively and that is precisely what the government is going to do.
We have all the options on the table and on the return of the special envoy, we will all sit down and look at all the options and assess the report.
And there is no measure that we consider to be appropriate that we will shrink from taking. We will take whatever and all measures necessary to ensure that never again are we going back to this whole issue of Nigerians being attacked and properties destroyed and in some cases killed in South Africa.
It is an ongoing story, we will keep you informed but the important message is that Mr. President is fully engaged in this process, he is being briefed on an hourly basis and we are not going to shrink from taking all the necessary steps to make it the last time this kind of thing will happen.”
Asked to disclose the identity of the envoy and measures being taken to protect Nigerians, Onyeama said: “the identify of the special envoy will be revealed in due course. There are certain reasons why we don’t want to do so immediately.
“On measures being taken, of course the security agencies are fully aware of the threats that are now existing to various businesses in Nigeria at the moment and they are fully mobilized to address that.”
On if the bone of contention has been established, he said: our basic premise is this, there is no justification whatsoever for individuals or coming as a group to take the laws into their own hands and to target Nigerians. This is totally unacceptable.
He added: ”It is important to note that there is now an African consensus building around this, it is totally abhorrent and unacceptable that there should be xenophobia against Africans on African soil, not to talk about what a Nigeria has done for South Africa, even everybody knows that during the years of apartheid but nevertheless we understand that the president of Rwanda will not attend the world economic forum, the president of Democratic Republic of Congo, the president of Malawi, the Zambian football team that were supposed to play in South Africa also stepped down that match and is not going ahead with it. And so is the African Union, the president of the African Union has also come out with a statement condemning what is happening in South Africa. A large number of victims are Nigerians and we will not tolerate it.”
On why the Nigerian High commissioner has been recalled when the envoy was on his way to South Africa, he said: “No. it is one of the options we are considering. He will need to come back but we feel he should come back after the envoy has gone there, so that Mr. President will also have the benefits of the full and comprehensive brief from all the individuals who are the position to have seen things at a close range.”
Flames and columns of thick smoke continued to emerge from a massive landfill in the Indian capital city of New Delhi on Monday, officials said.
Fire fighting operations were underway and fire-fighters were splashing water on the burning mounds of garbage.
The fire has continued at the colossal landfill site since it broke out on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, toxic fumes emanating from the landfill have left residents in the neighbourhood to gasp for breath.
“There is a pungent smell all around. The smoke is poisonous and causes irritation in the eyes,’’ Dileep Pandey said.
Pandey is a local resident, living within the area.
“We are also facing difficulty in breathing.
’’While the cause of the fire remained undetermined, authorities have initiated legal proceedings against unidentified individuals in relation to the incident.
According to the Delhi Fire Services department, the landfill caught fire because of the methane produced in the heaps of waste.
Officials listed hot and dry weather conditions as the reason behind the blaze. (Xinhua/NAN)
Israelis awaited word on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran’s first-ever direct attack as international pressure for restraint grew amid fears of an escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
Netanyahu on Monday summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to weigh a response to Iran’s massive weekend missile and drone attack, a government source said.
While the attack caused no deaths and little damage, thanks to the air defences and countermeasures of Israel and its allies, it has increased concerns that violence rooted in the Gaza war is spreading, and fears of open war between the long-time foes.
Israeli military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said on Monday that “this launch of so many missiles – cruise missiles and drones – into Israeli territory will be met with a response” but gave no details.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told state TV on Monday night that Tehran’s response to any Israeli retaliation would come in “a matter of seconds, as Iran will not wait for another 12 days to respond”.
But the prospect of Israeli retaliation has alarmed many Iranians already enduring economic pain and tighter social and political controls since protests in 2022-23.
Iran launched the attack in retaliation for an airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 attributed to Israel, and signalled that it did not seek further escalation.
U.S. President Joe Biden told Netanyahu at the weekend that the United States, which helped Israel blunt the Iranian attack, would not participate in an Israeli counter-strike.
Since the war in Gaza began in October, clashes have erupted between Israel and Iran-aligned groups based in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.
Israel said four of its soldiers were wounded hundreds of metres inside Lebanese territory overnight, the first known Israeli ground penetration into Lebanon since the Gaza war erupted, although it has traded fire with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
“We’re on the edge of the cliff and we have to move away from it,” Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, told Spanish radio station Onda Cero.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron made similar appeals.
Washington and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also have called for restraint.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby declined on Monday to say if Biden had urged Netanyahu in talks on Saturday night to exercise restraint in responding to Iran.
“We don’t want to see a war with Iran. We don’t want to see a regional conflict,” Kirby told a briefing, adding that it was for Israel to decide “whether and how they’ll respond”.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he was “leading a diplomatic attack” alongside Israel’s military response, writing to 32 countries to place sanctions on Iran’s missile programme and proscribe its Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Iran’s actions threatened stability in the Middle East and could cause economic spillovers.
The U.S. would use sanctions, and work with allies, to keep disrupting Iran’s “malign and destabilising activity”, she added.
However, some analysts said the Biden administration was unlikely to seek to sharpen sanctions on Iran’s oil exports due to worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China.
In a call between the Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers, China said it believed Iran could “handle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil” while safeguarding its sovereignty and dignity, according to Chinese state media.
Russia has refrained from publicly criticising its ally Iran but has also warned against further escalation.
Iran’s retaliatory attack, involving more than 300 missiles and drones, caused modest damage in Israel and wounded a 7-year-old girl.
Most missiles and drones were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system and with help from the U.S., Britain, France and Jordan.
In Gaza itself, where more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive according to Gaza health ministry figures, Iran’s action drew applause.
Israel began its campaign against Hamas, the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Group of Seven major democracies were working on a package of coordinated measures against Iran.
Italy, which holds the rotating G7 presidency, said it was open to new sanctions and suggested any new measures would target individuals.
Iran’s attack prompted at least a dozen airlines to cancel or reroute flights, with Europe’s aviation regulator still advising caution in using Israeli and Iranian airspace. (Reuters/NAN)
No fewer than 50 people died and 185 others injured in road accidents during the four-day Eid el Fitr holiday
across Afghanistan.
The country’s General Directorate of Traffic Police on Monday said a total of 102 road accidents occurred across Afghanistan in the period, killing 50 commuters, including eight women and 13 children, and injuring 185 others.
Herat, Ghazni, and Paktika were among 34 provinces of the country where most of the road accidents took place, the department said.
Overspeeding, reckless driving, non-compliance to traffic rules, and lack of traffic signals on highways were the main causes of the deadly accidents, the government agency said.
(Xinhua/NAN)
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