Malawians repatriated from South Africa amid xenophobia concerns

At the end of last month, Ghana organised a repatriation flight from Johannesburg for nearly 300 of its citizens. A group of about 680 more arrived in Ghana's capital, Accra, at the weekend.On Saturday, South Africa's Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola accused his Ghanaian counterpart of spreading misinformation about xenophobia in South Africa.In a post on X, linking to an interview that Ghana's Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa gave to a news station in Accra, Lamola described what he heard as "deeply disappointing".Ablakwa told Ghana's Joy News that he was proud of the solidarity that Ghanaians had shown in supporting their fellow nationals. He also talked about reports of foreigners being killed after being attacked in South Africa and reiterated a call for the African Union (AU) to investigate what was happening.In response, Lamola disputed that two Nigerians and five Mozambicans had died in separate acts of violence. In response to Ablakwa saying that a number of Ghanaians were being treated in hospital in South Africa after being attacked, Lamola said his government had "no information of that nature whatsoever".Ablakwa also said that his government had asked South Africa to compensate the Ghanaians who had been repatriated for the property that they had left behind. Meanwhile, Nigeria has postponed the first planned evacuation flight for 270 of its citizens that was due to leave on Monday.