Finally, Nigeria summons South Africa’s high commissioner

Nigeria’s foreign ministry has summoned South Africa’s high commissioner over anti-immigrant violence in which at least seven people have been killed, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

• South Africa deployed soldiers on Tuesday to try to quell the unrest after being criticised by governments including China and Zimbabwe for failing to protect foreigners from armed mobs.
• “The essence of the summon was to register Nigeria’s protest over the on-going xenophobic attacks against fellow Africans in South Africa,” the ministry said, adding that the meeting had happened on Monday.
• It also called on the South African authorities to quell the unrest and bring those involved to book.
• On Tuesday, four men aged between 18 and 22 were charged with the murder and robbery of a Mozambican man, Emmanuel Sithole, whose death was captured by a newspaper photographer and plastered across the front pages, shocking the nation.
• Isolated counter-protests involving a few dozen people have occurred in Nigeria, an economy in which South African firms such as mobile phone giant MTN and supermarket chain Shoprite have large stakes.
• Source – Reuters