ACCRA, Ghana (XOL Africa) — African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf has agreed that rising xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals in South Africa should be discussed at the next AU summit, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama said Thursday.
Mahama raised the issue during bilateral talks with Youssouf on the sidelines of an AU Extraordinary Summit on Universal Health Coverage and ending AIDS in Accra.
Mahama said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had dispatched a special envoy, led by his foreign minister, to meet with him in Accra on Tuesday over the crisis.
The Ghanaian president said he told the envoy that Ghana had no ill will toward South Africa but remained deeply concerned about attacks on foreign nationals and the financial losses suffered by those forced to abandon businesses and investments and return home.
Mahama said the violence undermined African solidarity and efforts to promote continental integration.
He argued that “sweeping the matter under the carpet” would not address the root causes of the crisis and called for the issue to be formally placed on the agenda of the next AU summit.
“This will offer South Africa the opportunity to explain itself, and possibly we can all find a lasting solution to this crisis,” Mahama said.
Youssouf acknowledged that the attacks had affected nationals from several African countries and said he had raised the matter directly with the South African president during a recent visit to the country.
The AU Commission chair commended the South African government’s public condemnation of the violence but expressed concern about what he described as apparent impunity for those responsible for the attacks.
Ghana has already written to the AU Commission requesting that the issue be formally placed on the agenda of the next summit.
The escalation of xenophobic violence has also prompted Ghana to evacuate several of its citizens from South Africa on three separate charter flights, with further evacuations reportedly being planned.
