The African Union has backed a broader discussion on migration, a South African government official said on Thursday, after Ghana made a proposal to place xenophobic unrest in South Africa on the agenda of an upcoming AU meeting.
Ghana has been a prominent critic of anti-immigrant protests and xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
Clayson Monyela, a South African foreign affairs official, said on X that Pretoria had defeated an attempt to “single out and isolate” the country.
“The AU will discuss the migration issue broadly and look at the ‘Pull and Push’ factors,” Monyela wrote, referring to conditions that drive people to leave their countries and those that draw them elsewhere.
Repatriations
Over the past few months anti-migrant protests have taken place in South Africa.
Ghana repatriated hundreds of its citizens ahead of a June 30 deadline set by a South African anti-migrant movement for undocumented foreigners to leave.
Local media reported that the AU had rejected a proposal from Ghana that would have meant xenophobic unrest in South Africa was discussed as a stand-alone agenda item at the body’s mid-year coordination meeting in October.
Neither South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation nor a spokesperson for the Ghanaian government had any immediate comment.
