AFRICA/MALAWI - Malawians fleeing xenophobic violence in South Africa: "We were chased like dogs"

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Lilongwe (Agenzia Fides) - "We were chased like dogs", said the first vanguards of the 3,200 Malawians that the government is repatriating from South Africa, where violent xenophobic clashes are being carreid out. This was reported to Agenzia Fides from Malawi by Fr. Piergiorgio Gamba, Monfortan missionary, who speaks of "coaches full of people who ran away without being able to take anything".
"Once again, at the southern end of Africa, the nightmare of hunting aliens reappears", said the missionary.
"The images of groups of young South Africans who stab Africans from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi ended up on the front pages of newspapers and on television, destroying the brotherhood that skin color had always supported" continued the missionary.
Fr. Gamba emphasized that "the limited number of the dead is surely due to a position of immediate protection of human rights organizations and Churches in particular" (see Fides 17/04/2015).
The message of protest by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop of Durban, where the first xenophobic clashes broke out and then spread to many other cities such as Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria, was a severe warning. "Xenophobia is contrary to the Constitution of South Africa, African humanism and the Christian faith, which wants to build bridges, not walls of defense", he repeated, quoting Pope Francis. We have often heard these days what was "Mandela's dream of a democratic and free society, where all people can live together in harmony and with equal opportunities".
In Malawi, the Justice and Peace Commission of the Bishops' Conference in a statement urged to avoid retaliation on South African nationals who in Malawi have different holiday homes along the lake and the biggest supermarkets. Justice and Peace also asks that we go beyond the repatriation of compatriots and we strive for constructive dialogue among governments and that protest demonstrations are carried out peacefully. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 22/04/2015)


Share: