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The Chairman of ECOWAS, President John Dramani Mahama, has condemned the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, saying it is a hindrance to the much needed African integration.

He said it was regrettable that the same people who helped South Africa to overcome apartheid would now become enemies for no justifiable reason, to the extent that lives had been lost and property destroyed.

"It is an issue that everybody is worried about because of the specific circumstances of South Africa," he said.

Answering a question posed by a journalist on the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, after holding a meeting with Nigeria's president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja last Tuesday, President Mahama said, "I think the young people in South Africa do not know what happened in their country. "

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The ECOWAS Chairman said many of the countries whose citizens were brutalised were the frontline countries that provided haven for black South Africans during the struggle against apartheid. 

"They gave them passports and scholarships to study in those countries in order to avoid the clutches of apartheid," he said,  adding that Nigeria, which was even not a frontline state, gave huge economic support to the African National Congress (ANC) to be able to overcome apartheid.

"The unfortunate thing is that this is not the first time," President Mahama noted with concern.

He stressed the need for the rest of Africa to work with the South African government to check the practice.

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President Mahama said the development was also not good for South Africa who had investments across Africa.

He called on the South African government to take strong action against those found to be involved in the despicable acts.

The ECOWAS Chairman explained to journalists that his visit to Abuja was a follow-up to an earlier one just before the presidential election.

He said the earlier visit was in solidarity with the people of that country ahead of the elections, where he called for peaceful, free and fair elections.

Once that had been realised, he added, he had every reason to return to Abuja to congratulate the political players and indeed the entire people.

He said Nigeria had shown a good example for the sub-region that democracy had found a firm root in West Africa.

Nigeria has set the pace for others to follow, President Mahama stressed.

Ghana and Nigeria, he maintained, had close relations and that would be pursued with all seriousness.

INEC boss
President Mahama also called on the chairman of the Nigerian Independent Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to congratulate him and his staff on the great work they did.