Africa: South Africa Blocks Ghana Attempt to Put Xenophobic Violence on AU Agenda

What the report says

AllAfrica, republishing a Daily Maverick report by Peter Fabricius, said South Africa resisted an effort by Ghana to have xenophobic violence in South Africa placed on the agenda of the African Union’s Mid-Year Coordination Meeting scheduled for October in Alamein, Egypt. According to the report, Ghana raised the matter during an AU Executive Council meeting of foreign ministers in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

The report said South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, opposed treating the issue as a South Africa-specific agenda item. Instead, Pretoria argued for a wider AU discussion on migration across the continent, including what it describes as “push-pull” pressures such as political and economic conditions that lead people to leave their home countries for South Africa and elsewhere.

Daily Maverick reported that the Executive Council rejected Ghana’s proposal, meaning South Africa is not expected to face a dedicated agenda item on xenophobic violence at the October meeting. Ghana has been among the strongest public critics of anti-immigrant protests and attacks in South Africa, and the report noted that Accra had repatriated several hundred citizens from South Africa and announced another phase of repatriations on 25 July.

The development matters because it shows a diplomatic split over how the AU should handle violence and hostility affecting African migrants in South Africa: as a country-specific human rights and governance concern, or as part of broader continental migration pressures. The article does not provide the full AU decision text or comments from Ghanaian officials beyond describing their bid.