Riyaz Patel
South Africa has temporarily shut its embassy in Nigeria after threats led to fears for staff safety, Foreign Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor has announced.
The move comes after attacks on foreign-owned businesses in South Africa triggered reprisals in Nigeria causing a diplomatic spat between the continent’s superpowers.
Both countries stepped up security Wednesday after attacks on foreign-owned stores in Johannesburg and reciprocal attacks against South African businesses in Nigerian cities.
Pandor said South Africa was in constant contact with Nigerian authorities to try to restore calm, adding there was no provision in local law for compensation for damage caused in the attacks.
“There is an Afrophobia we are sensing that exists, there is resentment and we need to address that,” Pandor told Reuters on the sidelines of World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town.
Parliament has meanwhile confirmed a snap debate on the wave of violence targeting
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