Mahama seeks AU action on xenophobic attacks against Ghanaians
President John Dramani Mahama has announced that Ghana will raise the recent xenophobic attacks against its citizens in South Africa at the next African Union (AU) Summit, with the backing of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Speaking during a meeting with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), H.E. Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, at the Jubilee House in Accra on Wednesday, July 22, President Mahama said the recurring attacks posed a serious threat to African unity and could no longer be ignored.
He stressed that Ghana harbours no ill feelings towards South Africa but believes the continent must confront the issue to ensure accountability and prevent further violence.
“I think that the AU should take an interest in this issue because it has the potential to wreck everything that we have worked for in terms of African integration and solidarity. We’re hoping to put it on the agenda of the next AU meeting,” he said.
President Mahama noted that the attacks had imposed a significant financial and humanitarian burden on Ghana, which has undertaken multiple evacuation exercises to bring affected citizens home.
“At a very high cost to us, we had to charter planes to go to South Africa to evacuate our citizens. We operated three charter flights, and we are operating another three because there are still about 900 who have signed up to come back home. We’ve had to pay them reintegration fees and allowances,” he stated.
He described the attacks as deeply traumatic for the countries whose nationals had been targeted and expressed concern over what he viewed as an inadequate response by the South African authorities.
“We lost two of our citizens who have been killed. It doesn’t appear the South African authorities are responding to the magnitude that one would expect them to do. The persons who are fanning these attacks are known, and they have been left free to do what they want to do. They are doing it with impunity,” he said.
The President disclosed that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently dispatched a delegation to Ghana to discuss the situation. He explained that Ghana’s decision to escalate the matter at the AU was intended to encourage accountability rather than damage relations between the two countries.
“Yesterday, July 21, President Cyril Ramaphosa sent a delegation to me, and I explained the reason why we need to discuss it. Sometimes these things happen, and we want to sweep them under the carpet, but when we do that, we do not cure what the problem is,” President Mahama said.
He reiterated that Ghana remains committed to maintaining strong ties with South Africa but believes the AU must take a more proactive role in addressing xenophobic violence to safeguard the ideals of African integration, solidarity and free movement across the continent.
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