South Africa Dispatches Envoys After Migrant Attacks Kill Five Mozambicans, Adopts 'First Safe Country' Asylum Rule

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will dispatch special envoys across the continent to manage diplomatic fallout from weeks of attacks on migrants, Semafor reported June 5. Mozambique said five of its citizens were killed across South Africa. Kenya, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe issued security advisories to their nationals.

Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, and Nigeria deployed emergency transport to evacuate their citizens. The South African cabinet approved a plan to institutionalize a “First Safe Country” principle weeks before the latest violence. The measure automatically disqualifies asylum seekers who pass through other safe nations before reaching South Africa.

Political analysts said anti-migrant groups are linking the attacks to unemployment and inequality. South Africa has one of the world’s highest unemployment rates, with almost one in three people jobless, and ranks among the most unequal societies globally. A man draped in a Ghana flag was photographed waiting to be repatriated from South Africa, Reuters reported.