CAPE TOWN (AFP) — Foreigners housed in emergency camps after an outbreak of xenophobic violence on Monday slammed the South African government's handling of their plight, demanding UN intervention.
A crowd of over 1,000 mostly Somali demonstrators converged outside parliament in Cape Town calling on the United Nations to assist those living in limbo in tents and accusing the government of shunning them.
Leading charities such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF) have warned of worsening conditions inside the camps as the government planned to move the displaced migrants to organised tent camps.
Leaders from the various camps around Cape Town, where the anti-immigrant violence spread after erupting in the country's economic capital Johannesburg, said they could no longer rely on the South African government.
"We need the UN to step in now. They have the facilities and skills to deal with this. Your government is more concerned about saving face than saving our children," said Serge Bami Samba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Samba is staying at Soetwater, the largest camp in the city, where Somalis waged a hunger strike last week after refusing to deal with government authorities.
Zimbabwean representative Abee Toperesu said the immigrants had not been consulted about plans to reintegrate foreigners back into their communities after the wave of violence which saw 62 killed and tens of thousands displaced.
"The government is not coming to us to find out what we want, what we are suggesting, as people. The people there (at the camp) are not comfortable with the idea of reintegrating us back into our community," he told reporters after the march.
"The people who chased us away are our neighbours, our landlords. How are you going to give us assurance these people are not going to hate us again."
Thousands of immigrants have fled back to their homelands such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique, however others remain crammed in police stations and community centres where water and sanitation is scarce.
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