Vigilante violence in S Africa spreads across the continent

SOME South African chains closed their stores in Nigeria yesterday as waves of tit-for-tat violence broke out against foreign-owned businesses.

Mobs in several Nigerian cities gathered to avenge attacks on immigrantowned premises after similar attacks in Johannesburg and Pretoria earlier this week left at least five people dead. The perception that Nigerians were specifically targeted sparked a diplomatic row between South Africa and Nigeria, Africa’s chief economic powers.

Nigeria’s government threatened to boycott a World Economic Forum conference in Cape Town yesterday after accusing South Africa of being slow to respond to the violence. Africans stars including Nigerian singers and Zambia’s football team led calls for a boycott of South Africa. The crisis also threatened to poison relations between Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, and other African leaders.

Mr Ramaphosa said: “Taking action against people from other nations is not justified and should not be allowed in

‘Taking action against people from other nations is not justified and should not be allowed in our country’

our beautiful country.” After ordering in extra police yesterday, the violence had largely abated by yesterday morning, with officers making 300 arrests.

The trouble was said to have started after foreigners were singled out allegedly for causing jobs and housing shortages. There are 5 million immigrants in South Africa, where unemployment stands at 29 per cent.