At least 10 people, two of them foreign nationals, have died in a wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed the death toll in a speech aired on national television, telling viewers: “There can be no excuse for the attacks on the homes and businesses of foreign nationals.
“Equally, there is no justification for the looting and destruction of businesses owned by South Africans.”
Meanwhile, Tanzania’s national carrier, Air Tanzania said it has suspended its flights from the commercial capital Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg on Thursday, citing ongoing violence that was a risk to its passengers.
“You are aware that there is ongoing violence in South Africa whereby the youth have taken laws in their hands,” Tanzania’s Transport Minister Isack Kamwelwe told journalists in Dar es Salaam. “Due to that, we have decided not to transport passengers to the destination where their lives will be in jeopardy.”
At least seven people have been killed and hundreds of arrests have been made during a week of anti-immigrant violence in South Africa.
Similarly, attacks on foreign-owned shops in South Africa’s commercial hub, Johannesburg, have sparked counter-protests in other parts of the continent.
Demonstrators in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second city, Lubumbashi, earlier on Thursday broke the windows of South Africa’s consulate, AFP news agency reports.
There was also a small demonstration outside the South African embassy in the capital, Kinshasa. Our colleagues Poly Muzalia and Emery Makumeno sent these photos from the scene.