Nigeria sees no sign that anti-immigrant violence is waning in South Africa

South Africa’s government has been accused of not doing enough to crack down on xenophobic attacks.The safety of African immigrants in South Africa is deteriorating, Nigeria’s foreign minister has warned, after two Nigerians were killed in disputed circumstances during anti-immigrant protests.“There are no signs that the situation is improving,” Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu said on Monday, while announcing more evacuation flights.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Undocumented migrants flee South Africa amid rising anti-immigrant protestslist 2 of 3More than 900 arrested during South Africa’s antimigrant protestslist 3 of 3Pope Leo urges migrant protection, integration on visit to Lampedusaend of listThe minister demanded South African authorities investigate the deaths of two Nigerians, Musa Yunana Joe and Charles Iroegbu, killed amid “the ongoing xenophobic protests and attacks on migrants”.South African police said Joe’s killing did not appear to be related to the protests, but could not immediately comment on Iroegbu’s death.Nigeria’s foreign ministry says Joe was killed in front of his shop in the northeastern city of ⁠⁠eMalahleni by unidentified criminals on June 28 , while Iroegbu was killed by South African police during interrogation in Pretoria on the same day.In a statement on Sunday, the ministry said: “We wish to place the Government of South Africa on ‌‌notice that if the situation continues to persist, all options remain on the table, some of which will be activated if the uncultured and provocative trend of intolerance… against foreigners is not addressed”.South African foreign ministry spokesman Chrispin Phiri said the government had asked Nigeria’s High Commission to submit “any actionable information to our law enforcement authorities, which will enable a thorough, objective investigation in accordance with the rule of law”.Weeks of anti-immigrant marchesThere have been weeks of protests against undocumented migrants, with many South Africans blaming workers from other African countries for taking their jobs and putting a strain on their social services.