South African High Commissioner Summoned

Accra, May 29, GNA - The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD, Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei on Tuesday summoned the South African High Commissioner, Mr Rapulane Sydney Molekane to the Ministry to discuss the situation in South Africa where xenophobic attacks against Africans have led to dozens of deaths.

A statement issued in Accra on Thursday said the Foreign Minister expressed concern about reports of attacks on and intimidation of Ghanaian nationals resulting in the injury of at least two people. The statement said the High Commissioner confirmed that no Ghanaian had been mentioned among the dead, and no specific information about attacks on any Ghanaian had come to his attention.

Mr. Molekane said any such information would be speedily investigated, adding that, the authorities were now in control of the situation and were taking appropriate measures to protect all foreign nationals in South Africa.

The statement said the Ghana High Commission in South Africa had reported that in the Cape Town area about 70 nationals had their business properties destroyed in a locality and 20 others were affected at a different location.

However, most nationals who initially sought refuge in designated centres had now returned to their homes and the High Commissioner was monitoring the situation.

In a related development, President John Agyekum Kufuor has, on the margins of the TICAD IV currently taking place in Yokohama, Japan, met President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and obtained assurances regarding the personal safety of the Ghanaians in that country. The statement said President Kufuor was also expected to participate in the World Economic Forum in South Africa next week and would use the opportunity to obtain a first hand account of the situation.

He would meet the Ghanaian community to reassure them of their personal safety as well as inform them of government's plans underway to mitigate their condition.