Cape Town - Diplomatic relations between the South African and Nigerian governments cooled at the weekend with the Department of International Relations and Co-operation hitting back at Nigeria’s decision to recall their acting high commissioner in South Africa as a result of the recent xenophobic attacks in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
In a statement released by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) yesterday, the department said that when 84 South African nationals died in a building collapse in Lagos the SA government did not blame Nigeria and maintained a “strong bond of friendship and bilateral relations”.
The Nigerian government decided last week to recall acting High Commissioner Martin Cobham and Deputy High Commissioner Uche Ajulu-Okeke, who is the country’s first female consul-general, after foreigners came under attack in Durban and Joburg.
“When 84 of our citizens perished on Nigerian soil, we did not blame the Nigerian government for the deaths and more than nine months’ delay in the repatriation of the bodies of our fallen compatriots, or for the fact that when these bodies eventually returned, they were in a state that they could not be touched or viewed as required by our burial practice,” the department said yesterday.
The Nigerian government failed to mention its intention to formally raise the issue with SA while Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was at the Africa-Asia Summit in Indonesia, where there was a Nigerian delegation present, it said.
“South Africa remains committed to a strong bond of friendship and bilateral relations with Nigeria… We will raise our concerns through diplomatic channels with the new administration that will assume office in Nigeria next month.”
The department reiterated efforts by the South African government to eliminate the xenophobic attacks and condemned the attacks. It said that despite the Nigerian government’s move, South Africa would continue to help it as it dealt with terrorist group Boko Haram.
“We are encouraged by the solidarity our country continues to receive from other African countries and the international community,” the statement said. “We shall also continue to support and not blame the Nigerian government as it battles to deal with Boko Haram that continues to kill many innocent civilians. We hope the more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram will someday be reunited with their families.”
The recall of Cobham and Ajulu-Okeke was the latest act of discontent by countries around the world concerning xenophobic violence.
Last week, Botswana, China, Israel, the UK and Zambia were among a long list of governments that cautioned their citizens visiting SA via travel advisories.
The attacks began in Durban three weeks ago and spread to Joburg. The military was later deployed across Joburg in a bid to bring calm to the affected areas.
Since the violence began seven foreign nationals have been killed and Ajulu-Okeke claimed that Nigerian nationals lost more than R21 million as a result. She said their losses included looted and burnt shops, stolen cars and burnt mechanical stores.
Cape Argus