South Africa has temporarily closed its embassy in Nigeria following the ongoing xenophobic crisis, Foreign Affairs Minister, Naledi Pandor told Reuters.
She said South Africa was in constant contact with Nigerian authorities to try to restore calm, adding there is 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 said on the sidelines of a continental economic conference in Cape Town.
The diplomatic anger sparked by the xenophobic attacks on some Nigerians in South Africa is still hot as the Federal Government has said that it will airlift Nigerians willing to return from SA on Friday.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, the decision is important because Nigeria has drawn the red line with South Africa over attacks on Nigeria.
He said Air Peace had volunteered to bring them on Friday.
