标签： Africa

On Wednesday, the first contingent of roughly 300 Ghanaian nationals departed Johannesburg for their home country, marking the launch of a voluntary repatriation program organized by Ghana’s government in response to escalating anti-immigration tensions across South Africa.

At Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, traveling Ghanaians and their families gathered with packed luggage, as Ghanaian consular staff and South African law enforcement worked in tandem to coordinate check-in and departure procedures. This repatriation effort comes on the heels of renewed demonstrations targeting illegal immigration in multiple regions of South Africa, where deep-seated public frustration over persistently high unemployment, rising violent crime, and unequal access to basic public services has stoked resentment toward foreign-born residents.

Benjamin Quashie, Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, confirmed to reporters on-site that more people seeking evacuation arrived at the airport than had pre-registered for the first flight. He added that these additional applicants would have their registration processed in time for the next scheduled repatriation flight, set to depart for Ghana this coming Sunday.

Diplomatic friction between the two African nations began when Ghana summoned South Africa’s ambassador to Accra to protest reported targeted attacks on Ghanaian citizens living in South Africa, shortly before the evacuation initiative was formally announced.

According to Loren Landau, a migration scholar and political analyst at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the repatriation program carries more symbolic weight than it does practical protection for the small number of citizens being evacuated. He explained that the move is fundamentally a diplomatic signal from Ghana to South Africa that the current wave of anti-immigrant hostility is politically unacceptable, rather than a large-scale emergency rescue effort.

Some of the Ghanaian citizens on Wednesday’s flight had previously been held at South Africa’s Lindela Repatriation Centre for immigration violations. In total, more than 800 Ghanaians have registered with the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria to take part in the evacuation program, after weeks of anti-immigrant protests left many foreign-born residents feeling increasingly unsafe.

Ghanaian authorities have emphasized that the entire repatriation operation is being conducted in close coordination with South African government officials, launched out of urgent concerns for the personal safety and well-being of Ghanaian migrants in the country. For its part, the South African government has formally condemned all acts of violence against foreign nationals, while simultaneously acknowledging that public anxiety over unregulated illegal immigration is a legitimate domestic concern.

The unrest has also drawn pushback from other African nations: Nigeria has publicly criticized the treatment of its own citizens residing in South Africa, and confirmed it is evaluating its own potential evacuation program for Nigerian nationals.

In a landmark address that intersects global reckoning with historical injustice and modern ethical discourse, Pope Leo XIV has issued the Catholic Church’s clearest ever apology for its centuries-long complicity in the transatlantic slave trade, labeling the Church’s role a “deep, open wound in Christian memory”.

The historic apology was included in *Magnifica Humanitas* (“Magnificent Humanity”), the Pope’s first encyclical — a formal teaching document addressed to global Catholic bishops that also carries wide-ranging messages for the international community — released on Monday. In addition to confronting the Church’s historical sins, the encyclical also explores pressing contemporary ethical risks tied to artificial intelligence development.

In the text, the Pope offered a unreserved plea for pardon on behalf of the entire Catholic Church, writing that “it is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many” stolen from their African homelands. He openly acknowledged that for generations, Church leaders bowed to the demands of colonial rulers, creating formal regulations that legitimized systems of racialized subjugation, including the enslavement of non-Christian communities. He further confirmed that medieval ecclesiastical institutions themselves owned enslaved people, a long-unacknowledged chapter of Church history.

Ghana, the West African nation that was a central trafficking hub during the 16th to 19th century transatlantic slave trade, has welcomed the apology as an extraordinary act of moral courage. Historical records estimate that between 12 and 15 million enslaved Africans were forcibly shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas during this era, with roughly 2 million dying in brutal conditions on the crossing. Many of these captives were held in stone forts along Ghana’s coast, structures that still stand today as haunting memorials to the atrocity.

For decades, Ghana has led global calls for formal apologies and reparations from Western powers and institutions for their roles in the slave trade and colonial exploitation. In a formal statement released late Tuesday, the Ghanaian government framed the Pope’s acknowledgment as a critical milestone on the path to collective healing, intergenerational reconciliation, and the building of a more just global society. “This apology reinforces the growing global understanding that confronting historical injustices demands truth-telling and moral responsibility as essential foundations for justice and reconciliation,” the statement read.

The apology comes as the global movement for reparations gains new institutional momentum. In March of this year, Ghana spearheaded a successful United Nations resolution, backed by the African Union and led by Ghanaian President John Mahama, that formally classifies the transatlantic enslavement of African people as “the gravest crime against humanity” in modern history. The resolution lays the groundwork for advancing reparations claims and addressing the enduring harms of slavery, from systemic racial inequality to persistent global discrimination.

This latest development follows Pope Leo XIV’s first papal visit to Africa in April, an 11-day tour that took him to four African nations. During the trip, the pontiff delivered sharp criticisms of foreign actors that continue to extract Africa’s natural resources for private profit, earning widespread praise across the continent for his forthright stance.

Ghanaian officials noted that the apology arrives at a pivotal moment, as the global community engages in deeper collective reflection on the ongoing harms of slavery and colonialism. In June, Ghana will host an international conference to outline next steps for the reparations movement, following the adoption of the UN resolution. The gathering will bring together activists, government officials, and global stakeholders to advance work on healing and redress.

As millions of Muslims across the globe gear up for the annual Eid al-Adha festival of sacrifice, the holy occasion is tinged with heartbreak and hardship in Bamako, the capital of conflict-stricken Mali. A months-long blockade enforced by al-Qaida-affarmed insurgents has sent livestock prices skyrocketing, pushing the holiday’s central religious ritual — slaughtering an animal and distributing its meat to low-income communities — out of reach for countless local families.

The crisis stems directly from a blockade of major supply routes into Bamako announced earlier this month by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the main al-Qaida-linked militant group operating in the Sahel. The fighters have systematically targeted and burned convoys of commercial trucks carrying goods and fuel heading toward the capital, choking off the steady flow of supplies the landlocked nation depends on. Unlike many neighboring coastal countries, Mali has no direct access to international seaports, so nearly all essential goods, from fuel to livestock, are trucked in from neighbors including Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Analysts note the blockade is a deliberate strategic move: militants aim to cripple the national economy to erode public trust in the ruling military junta, which seized power in a 2020 coup. The blockade is not entirely sealed — insurgents avoid maintaining permanent roadblocks for fear of retaliation from Malian government forces, allowing small volumes of goods to trickle into the city. This limited flow has so far prevented a total breakdown of food access, but it has been enough to send prices of key goods including meat soaring and create widespread fuel shortages, forcing residents to queue for hours at the handful of gas stations still open.

This is not a sudden disruption. JNIM has already enforced a stifling blockade on oil imports into the country since September 2025, laying the groundwork for the current crisis ahead of the major holiday. For ordinary Bamako residents, the impact hits closest to home during Eid al-Adha, where the sacrifice of a sheep is a centuries-old central tradition.

Mountaga Touré, a 38-year-old local teacher, told reporters he visited multiple livestock markets across the city before abandoning his plan to purchase a sheep for his family. Since the blockade took effect, prices have jumped by nearly 50%: a small sheep that previously cost roughly $177 now sells for $266 or more, out of his budget. To adapt, many families in Bamako’s neighborhoods have begun pooling funds to buy cows instead of the traditional individual sheep, a last-minute adjustment to ensure they can still have meat for the holiday.

The current blockade follows a sweeping wave of coordinated attacks across Mali carried out by separatist and jihadi forces last month — the largest large-scale offensive the country has seen in more than 10 years of ongoing insurgency. Mali has been grappling with overlapping crises for over a decade: a separatist rebellion in the northern regions, paired with expanding insurgencies led by militants affiliated with both al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. After the 2020 military coup, the ruling junta cut ties with Western security partners and turned to Russia for military support against the insurgency. But analysts confirm that security conditions across the country have deteriorated sharply in recent months, with a record high number of militant attacks recorded. Both government forces and Russian mercenary groups have also faced accusations of extrajudicial killings of civilian residents suspected of collaborating with insurgents.

At present, the Malian army, backed by Russian Africa Corps mercenaries, has attempted to circumvent the blockade by providing armed escorts for supply convoys heading to Bamako’s markets. Military officials regularly announce strikes on militant-held positions to clear routes. But residents and traders say these efforts have not been enough to restore steady, adequate supply to the capital.

Amadou Cissé, a 45-year-old livestock trader who has specialized in supplying Eid sheep for Bamako markets for years, explained that under normal circumstances he would bring up to 200 sheep to the capital for the holiday (known locally as Tabaski) each year. This year, he has only managed to transport 50, because limited space on army-escorted convoys restricts how much livestock he can move. Most of his ordered sheep remain stranded in Diema, a major livestock producing town 215 miles west of Bamako. “I was told more escorted convoys would be organized, but so far none have left Diema, so I doubt the sheep will arrive before the holiday,” Cissé said.

Drissa Traoré, another Bamako-based sheep seller with more than a decade of experience, confirmed that overall supply has dropped by 50% compared to typical Eid seasons. “This year, we have barely half the number of sheep we usually have during Tabaski,” he said.

Beyond disrupting holiday meals, the insecurity has upended long-held holiday travel traditions. Sidi Diarra, an employee at a major Bamako financial institution, typically travels 240 kilometers to the city of Segou each year to celebrate Eid with his parents. This year, he has canceled his plans out of fear of militant attacks along the route. “This year, I am afraid to go because of attacks by extremist groups. It is safer to stay in Bamako,” he said.

In the early hours of Wednesday, the first cohort of Ghanaian citizens began their journey home from South Africa, amid growing fears of renewed xenophobic violence sparked by a recent wave of anti-illegal immigration protests across the country. Dozens of buses chartered by the Ghanaian embassy arrived at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport by 3 a.m. local time, dropping off hundreds of departing passengers spanning all age groups, including men, women, and children. A small subset of travelers was transported separately in a police van, kept isolated from the main group under constant police observation, according to on-the-ground reporting from the BBC.

This mass repatriation effort comes in response to weeks of demonstrations led by March and March, a grassroots citizen movement pushing for stricter South African immigration reform. The group has set a June 30 deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, a timeline that has stoked widespread anxiety among foreign residents. Among those departing is Rudolph, a Ghanaian small business owner who has operated a hair salon in South Africa for a decade. In a rare interview with the BBC, Rudolph explained that the shifting social climate had made staying in the country untenable. “It’s not comfortable for us to stay here anymore, so we have to go. I think we will find peace at home,” he said, echoing the fears of many other foreign residents. He added that the protests, which originated in Durban before spreading to multiple other provinces, could easily escalate into targeted violence ahead of the deadline, and that he had no plans to ever return to South Africa.

Ghanaian authorities confirmed that only 300 of the roughly 800 registered citizens would depart on Wednesday, with the remaining travelers undergoing additional security and eligibility screenings before boarding future flights. Officials estimate that roughly 25,000 Ghanaians currently reside in South Africa, a large portion of whom have been affected by the recent unrest. Ghanaian High Commissioner Benjamin Quashie emphasized that the repatriation effort is rooted in the government’s core responsibility to protect its citizens abroad. “The Ghanaian government listened to the plight of its citizens in South Africa, who felt that their lives were in danger, who felt like the economic activity that they were engaging in had come to a standstill, who felt unwelcome in this country, and it is the responsibility of every government to ensure that its citizens are taken care of both home and abroad,” Quashie told the BBC.

Quashie also outlined the Ghanaian government’s plan to support returning citizens, noting that a comprehensive reintegration strategy is already in place to help returnees reestablish their businesses and livelihoods back home. He added that the effort also aligns with South Africa’s own goals around immigration management: “The government is willing to establish them into whatever business they were doing in South Africa. In a way, we’re also helping the South African economy, because it’s clear that some of them are undocumented. So taking them out of here will let them know that we are not people who condone undocumented people in countries.”

Political analysts have pointed to upcoming local elections scheduled for November as a potential driving factor behind the recent resurgence of anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa. The country has a bloody history of large-scale xenophobic violence: in 2008, attacks targeting foreign nationals left 62 people dead, and another 12 people were killed in similar unrest in 2019. Organizers of the current wave of protests have maintained that their demonstrations have been entirely peaceful, a claim echoed in recent statements from the South African government. Earlier this month, government officials condemned any criminal targeting of foreign residents while acknowledging that the country faces legitimate challenges around managing undocumented immigration that must be addressed.