标签： Africa

As South Africa counts down to a self-imposed June 30 deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, the nation has become a landscape of fear for thousands of foreign-born residents. What started as a series of mostly peaceful public protests led by anti-migrant groups and opposition political actors has erupted into widespread targeted intimidation, pushing even documented refugees and long-term residents to flee their homes and seek voluntary repatriation to their home countries.

One of the thousands living in crisis is Esnat Joseph, a 36-year-old Malawian mother of one-year-old triplets. Sitting in an open-air Durban field where as many as 7,000 displaced foreigners have gathered over the past two weeks, the mother struggled to calm her crying infants as she recalled the armed attack that forced her family from their informal settlement home. “A group of 10 South African men showed up at my door carrying machetes and whips, telling me we had to go back to our country,” Joseph explained. “They grabbed my husband, cut his head and neck, holding his throat like they intended to kill him. By the grace of God he survived, but he is still recovering in a hospital.”

Joseph, who moved to South Africa three years ago to work as a domestic servant before having her children, lost her passport and immigration paperwork in a robbery three years ago, leaving her with no formal legal status. Like hundreds of other Malawians stranded in Durban, she has signed up for a repatriation bus organized by the Malawian consulate, which has arranged voluntary departures with funding from public donations. She is far from alone: over the past four weeks, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have all organized air and bus repatriation efforts, with roughly 3,500 foreign nationals having already chosen to leave South Africa voluntarily. South African authorities confirm that more than 500 recently repatriated Nigerians were in the country without valid documentation.

Benjamin, a Nigerian returnee who arrived in Lagos last week after living nine years in South Africa, summed up the sentiment of many who have left. “South Africans do not welcome foreigners, especially Nigerians,” he told the BBC. “It is a place where your life can be taken at any moment, it is not safe to stay.”

The June 30 deadline was first put forward by a coalition of anti-migrant groups including the organization March and March, as well as opposition party ActionSA. Marchers carrying wooden sticks have taken to streets across the country for months, chanting the Zulu phrase *Mabahambe*, which translates to “They must go.” Organizers reject accusations that their movement is xenophobic, arguing that they are pushing for enforcement of existing immigration laws and policy prioritization for South African citizens. “If you enter the country on a 30-day visitor visa and stay for 50 days, two years, even five years, you know you are breaking the law,” March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma told reporters at a Durban rally. “South Africa cannot become a refugee camp for every struggling state on the continent. Every country puts its own citizens first, and we demand our government does the same.”

Protesters’ anger is rooted in deep-seated economic hardship that has plagued South Africa for years. Official government data puts national unemployment at 32.7%, one of the highest rates in the world, with 350,000 jobs lost in the first quarter of 2026 alone, most held by young workers. Protesters argue undocumented migrants strain already overstretched public services, taking scarce jobs, education seats and hospital access from native citizens. “We fight to get our own kids into school, we struggle to get our elderly into hospital beds,” Mecha Ramorola, a protester at a Pretoria march, explained. “Scarce resources should go to South Africans first.”

Despite this economic context, the current wave of tension has also been amplified by political opportunism, analysts note. South Africa is set to hold local government elections this coming November, and multiple parties have weaponized migration anxiety to win votes. A widely debunked claim that South Africa holds 15 million undocumented migrants, first pushed five years ago by ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba (who is currently campaigning to become mayor of Johannesburg), continues to circulate on social media. “Political parties are scraping the bottom of the barrel, lying to voters that all of South Africa’s problems can be fixed by getting rid of migrants,” said Sharon Ekambaram, a human rights lawyer with the movement Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia. “This scapegoating has a long history in our politics, and it always gets worse around election season.”

Worryingly, the current tension has echoes of past waves of deadly xenophobic violence that have struck South Africa: in 2008, anti-migrant riots killed 62 people (including 21 South African citizens) and displaced thousands more, with further outbreaks in 2015, 2016 and 2019. Just last month, the Mozambican government reported that five of its citizens had been killed in anti-foreigner attacks in Western Cape province, a claim South Africa’s foreign minister disputed, saying only two Mozambicans died and investigations into the circumstances are ongoing.

Social media has played a major role in amplifying hostility in recent weeks. Viral videos showing protesters harassing foreign nationals have spread widely, including one clip of a Ghanaian man being ordered to leave the country that prompted the Ghanaian government to summon South Africa’s ambassador to demand improved protections for Ghanaian citizens. Another viral video features prominent anti-migrant activist Nkosikhona Ndabandaba, a Facebook creator with 1.4 million followers who is known publicly as Phakel’umthakathi, approaching a Congolese man at the roadside. Without asking for proof of his immigration status, Ndabandaba politely told the man: “June 30 is the deadline. You don’t have to wait until then. Leave now.” Ndabandaba has amplified fears further by warning that he cannot control public anger after the deadline passes.

Critically, even foreign nationals with valid legal status in South Africa are being targeted. Dozens of documented refugees have camped outside Durban’s Home Affairs department to seek government protection. One Burundian mother of four, who has official refugee status, said she has been targeted regardless. “I have all the valid paperwork proving I can stay here, but we are all being chased out,” she said, wrapping herself in a blanket to ward off the southern hemisphere winter chill. “I fear for my life, my children are terrified. We get insulted just walking down the street, my kids get bullied even at school.”

Even long-term residents with deep roots in the country live in fear. A Malawian beauty therapist who has lived in Cape Town for 16 years (and who does not have formal legal status) said even routine trips to the grocery store have become intimidating. She, her husband and their nine-year-old daughter were recently confronted by their Uber driver, who demanded to see their immigration papers and questioned their origin because of their accent. Her daughter has stopped attending school entirely because of the family’s fear of attack. She says she supports President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plans to reform immigration policy, but stresses that all people, regardless of status, deserve to be safe. “My child can’t even go to school because we are terrified,” she said. “We don’t know what will happen next.”

President Ramaphosa has pushed back against the intimidation and scapegoating, warning in a recent national address that no individual or group has the right to demand proof of nationality from people in public spaces, and that the government will take action against vigilante harassment. “There is no place for xenophobia, racism, intolerance of any kind in South Africa,” he said, unveiling a five-point plan from his coalition government to address the migration crisis. The plan includes rejecting asylum claims from people who have already passed through other safe countries, introducing quotas for citizenship naturalization, expanding digital identity systems for non-citizens, and imposing jail sentences for employers that hire undocumented migrants for below-minimum wage work.

Analysts say the policy targeting of underpaid informal work reflects a longstanding pattern of exploitation. “You see undocumented migrants taking jobs that South Africans won’t accept, paying less than the legal minimum, because migrants are desperate and open to exploitation,” noted Professor Shepherd Mpofu, an immigration analyst. Ramaphosa’s plan also includes cracking down on systemic corruption within South Africa’s border and immigration system, a problem that is well-documented. One 36-year-old Malawian salon owner in Johannesburg, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, told the BBC she has been paying border officials bribes every few months for years to get her passport stamped without having to leave the country. She has now closed her salon and plans to return to Malawi to keep her young children safe.

In Johannesburg, the government’s enforcement campaign, called Operation New Broom, has already resulted in the bulldozing of hundreds of informal roadside shops that officials say are mostly run by undocumented migrants, which they label hotbeds of criminal activity. During a recent visit to the area, Ethiopian migrants watched in horror as their life’s work was demolished, even after advance warning from authorities.

Across the country, the growing pressure has left all foreign-born residents feeling trapped. Even the third-largest political party, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) led by former President Jacob Zuma, which holds major support in KwaZulu-Natal, has stopped short of endorsing the June 30 deadline but backed the movement’s core anti-undocumented migrant stance. “We all agree that undocumented migrants are breaking the law, they must leave the country peacefully without violence or intimidation,” MK member Bonginkosi Khanyile said.

Still, fear is tangible nationwide. Long lines of vehicles are backed up at border posts with Mozambique as foreign nationals rush to leave before the June 30 deadline. Back at the open displacement camp in Durban, where aid groups have been distributing blankets and food to thousands of displaced people, terrified Malawian migrants can’t wait to leave. When the first repatriation bus pulled in on Sunday, crowds cheered and chanted the Zulu phrase *Siyahamba*, meaning “We are leaving.”

The 11th annual Our Ocean Conference opened this week in Mombasa, Kenya, marking the first time an African nation has hosted the landmark global gathering focused on reversing decades of damage to the world’s oceans. The event, which brought together hundreds of senior delegates from 56 Commonwealth nations, the United States, the European Union, and climate-vulnerable small island states across the Caribbean and Pacific, opened with a unified call to turn long-stated ocean conservation pledges into tangible, on-the-ground action — starting with immediate execution of the historic High Seas Treaty.

Formally named the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, the treaty entered into force in January this year after securing ratification from 60 countries around the globe. For the first time in history, the agreement establishes a binding legal framework to create fully protected marine areas in international waters, a critical step toward hitting the global 30×30 conservation target that aims to safeguard 30 percent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.

Speaking at the opening of the Commonwealth Ocean Ministers’ Roundtable during the conference, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted the slow pace of progress despite the treaty’s entry into force. While the global community has now hit a milestone of protecting 10 percent of the world’s oceans, Kerry noted that only 3 percent of that area qualifies as highly or fully protected. Most existing ocean protections, he argued, remain nothing more than lines drawn on official maps, with no meaningful enforcement or conservation measures in place.

Kerry further criticized unregulated industrial fishing activity, pointing out that large distant-water fleets travel thousands of miles from their home ports and deploy massive nets that capture non-target marine life indiscriminately, devastating vulnerable open-ocean ecosystems. He urged all nations that have not yet ratified the treaty to complete the process immediately, and called on parties that have already ratified to begin full implementation without delay. Key decisions shaping the treaty’s long-term governance framework are scheduled to be made next year, making the coming months a critical window for action.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Maritime Affairs, Hassan Joho, echoed this call, emphasizing that global conservation efforts must shift from making promises to delivering measurable results. Since the first Our Ocean Conference was held in 2014, the global gathering has generated more than 2,900 separate conservation pledges totaling over $169 billion in committed funding. Joho stressed that the core challenge now facing the global community is turning these financial and policy pledges into effective, long-term management of fragile marine ecosystems that benefit coastal communities and national economies alike.

The 56 member states of the Commonwealth collectively control 36 percent of the world’s total ocean jurisdiction and hold stewardship over nearly half of the planet’s coral reefs, giving the bloc an outsized role and unique responsibility in global marine conservation. For its part, Africa is increasingly emerging as a leading voice in global ocean governance, a shift Kerry highlighted during his remarks. He praised the continent for leading transboundary conservation efforts, pointing specifically to a landmark commitment by eight Gulf of Guinea nations to sustainably manage 100 percent of their collective national waters by 2030.

“Africa, a region long framed as a victim of unregulated ocean exploitation, is now stepping forward to lead global conservation action,” Kerry said.

As host of this year’s conference, Kenya has already implemented a series of progressive ocean policies: it has adopted integrated coastal zone management frameworks, expanded the total area of its national marine protected areas, and ramped up enforcement efforts to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The East African nation’s 400-mile coastline and extensive exclusive economic zone support key economic sectors including commercial fishing and coastal tourism, which sustain livelihoods for millions of Kenyans.

As delegates continued negotiations in Mombasa, many attendees noted that the policy and regulatory decisions made over the coming months will determine whether the High Seas Treaty becomes a transformative tool for global marine conservation, or joins a long list of unfulfilled international environmental promises.

This coverage from the Associated Press receives philanthropic funding from multiple private foundations, with the AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

Six months after Israel made history as the first UN-recognized nation to formally acknowledge Somaliland’s independence, the self-declared state has inaugurated its first diplomatic mission in the Middle Eastern country — placing it in Jerusalem, a choice that has amplified already fierce global debate over the move.

The embassy opening took place at a West Jerusalem technology park during an official state visit by Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, who held high-level talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the meeting, Netanyahu spoke of what he framed as a shared historical bond between the two peoples, and praised Somaliland’s decision to site its embassy in Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its undivided eternal capital.

Netanyahu drew a direct parallel between the two polities’ aspirations for global recognition: “Just as you expect nations to recognise your sovereignty, your identity, your own rights, your own national rights. The same thing we have vis-à-vis our capital. It’s only been the capital of the Jewish people since King David. That’s only 3,000 years ago. So, for some countries, it’s a belated recognition. For you, it was instant.”

Abdullahi returned the praise, hailing Netanyahu for his “courage” in extending recognition to Somaliland last December, and outlined a range of potential areas of bilateral collaboration. He highlighted Somaliland’s untapped natural resource wealth — including rare earth minerals and crude oil reserves — and noted the country’s strategically positioned coastline along the entrance to the Red Sea, which offers major geostrategic value for Israel in the Horn of Africa. For Israel, the partnership secures a rare stable friendly partner in a strategically critical region that has long been dominated by actors hostile to Israeli interests.

The entire diplomatic exchange has been met with fierce condemnation from multiple stakeholders. Somalia, which formally claims Somaliland as an integral part of its sovereign territory, has condemned any official engagement with what it calls the “secessionist administration of the northern region of Somalia”, framing the embassy opening as a direct violation of Somalia’s national sovereignty. Somalia’s foreign ministry has issued an urgent call for all global actors to uphold international law and condemn actions that undermine the unity and territorial integrity of the Somali state.

Israel’s original recognition of Somaliland in December 2024 was already deeply controversial globally, drawing sharp criticism from dozens of countries and major international bodies including China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the African Union. The decision to open the embassy in Jerusalem, rather than Tel Aviv where the vast majority of foreign missions remain located, has drawn further rebuke from the Palestinian Authority. In a statement carried by official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Palestinian foreign ministry condemned “the opening of the alleged embassy by the so-called ‘Somaliland’ in the occupied city of Jerusalem”, calling the move a “flagrant violation of international law and relevant resolutions of international legitimacy”. The Palestinians have long laid claim to East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and formally annexed in 1980, as the capital of their future independent state. The international community almost universally does not recognize Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, and most countries retain their embassies in Tel Aviv, despite the 2018 decision by former U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the U.S. mission to Jerusalem. A small handful of countries including Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and Fiji currently maintain embassies in Jerusalem.

Somaliland has operated as a de facto independent state since 1991, when it separated from Somalia following the collapse of the central government in Mogadishu that plunged the rest of the country into decades of civil conflict and instability. Over the past three decades, Somaliland has established functional democratic institutions, held multiple peaceful national elections, issued its own independent currency, and built a professional national security force, maintaining far greater stability than most regions of southern Somalia. Even so, prior to Israel’s recognition late last year, no UN member state had formally recognized Somaliland’s declaration of independence.

Nigeria’s armed forces have announced the successful rescue of Amina Abubakar, the widow of a retired major general who died in kidnappers’ custody over the weekend, more than two weeks after the couple were abducted from the country’s northwestern Katsina State.

The pair—Maj Gen Rabe Abubakar and his wife Amina—were first taken hostage by unidentified armed groups at the end of May. In a public statement released Monday, defense officials confirmed that Amina was shot by her captors during the rescue operation as the kidnappers retreated under advancing troop pressure. She is currently receiving ongoing medical care at a military hospital.

The rescue was confirmed by the couple’s daughter, Bilkisu, via a WhatsApp post that expressed gratitude for the outcome. “We are deeply grateful to Allah for His mercy and protection,” she wrote. “Our mummy has been rescued from the hands of evil by the Nigerian Army. We pray that Allah grants her good health, complete recovery, peace of mind, and strength after everything she has been through.”

Maj Gen Abubakar’s death, announced by Katsina State officials on Saturday, has been attributed to pre-existing chronic health complications including diabetes and high blood pressure. His remains were interred the same day his death was made public.

Samaila Uba, director of defense information, explained that the rescue followed weeks of intensified search and clearing operations targeting criminal networks in the region. “During sustained offensive operations and pressure mounted on the criminal elements, troops made contact with the bandits… leading to the successful recovery of Mrs Abubakar,” Uba said. He added that military leadership is prioritizing Amina’s recovery and extending all necessary support to the family, and that operations will continue to hunt down the perpetrators of the abduction.

No organized group has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. Northwestern Nigeria has long grappled with persistent insecurity rooted in the activities of local criminal gangs known colloquially as “bandits,” who regularly carry out ransom-fueled kidnappings, cattle rustling, and violent attacks on isolated rural communities. The region also hosts a presence of militant jihadist groups, and the United States carried out an airstrike targeting an alleged militant camp in neighboring Sokoto State last Christmas.

Just 10 days before Amina’s rescue, a video circulated online showing the retired general and his wife issuing a public appeal to the Katsina State government. The pair called for the government to release detained bandit members and return seized livestock in exchange for their own freedom.

President Bola Tinubar voiced his reaction to Maj Gen Abubakar’s death over the weekend, saying he was “shocked” by the news. The president described the general’s killing as a stark reminder of the ongoing threat that armed criminal groups pose to national security and civilian life across Nigeria.