The group touched down at Roberts International Airport near Monrovia at 2:45 pm on Wednesday, Liberia’s foreign ministry confirmed. Officials say the returnees had “voluntarily requested” repatriation, according to Varlee Sanor, deputy executive director of the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC), which jointly coordinated the operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In a Tuesday Facebook statement, the LRRRC said “this group of Liberians was the most distressed who voluntarily opted to be immediately repatriated due to fear of their lives as a result of the constant xenophobic attacks against foreigners.” The commission had earlier said 29 of the roughly 263 Liberians living in South Africa had asked to come home, with the Liberian Embassy in Pretoria processing emergency travel documents for those without valid immigration papers.
South Africa, historically a magnet for both documented and undocumented African workers because of its relative economic strength, has spent weeks under strain from protests and unrest targeting foreigners accused of taking jobs and resources from locals. The current wave traces back to a June 30 ultimatum from private anti-immigration groups demanding undocumented foreigners leave the country, part of a cycle of xenophobic violence that has recurred since deadly 2008 attacks killed dozens, according to South African researchers tracking such incidents.
The unrest has turned deadly. Police have opened investigations into the killings of several foreign nationals, including two Mozambican men who died in late May in Mossel Bay, where more than 50 shacks were burned in an informal settlement. Mozambique’s government said five of its citizens died in what it called xenophobic attacks. Authorities have arrested roughly 350 people in connection with the violence, while South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned attacks on foreigners even as his government moves to tighten immigration enforcement.
Liberia’s evacuation is dwarfed by the scale of repatriations from other African nations. Malawi said earlier this month it had brought back 38,000 nationals in a single month, while Zimbabwe reported nearly 21,300 citizens returned. Uganda’s government said about 1,100 of its nationals had come home, and hundreds of Ghanaians, Nigerians, Mozambicans and Kenyans have also left South Africa. Regional officials estimate more than 53,000 immigrants have now been deported or repatriated amid the crackdown, straining South Africa’s diplomatic ties with several African governments and drawing condemnation from the African Union and international rights groups.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah