On Friday, the National Assembly of Nigeria decided to suspend all official visits to South Africa. In response to reports of xenophobic attacks including destruction of property, acts of violence and intimidation against Nigerians and other African nationals in South Africa, or what is known in Nigeria as “Afrophobia.”
For several months, a wave of xenophobia against foreign immigrants has been rising in South Africa, targeting mainly black African immigrants, especially from Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Official Nigerian reports indicate that 98 Nigerians residing in South Africa were killed.
With the escalation of violence and the recurrence of attacks against foreign immigrants, Nigeria deported nearly 1,500 of its nationals in South Africa, and summoned the South African ambassador to protest, but the attacks did not stop in light of widespread public anger in Nigeria, while last July, the House of Representatives rejected a request to sever diplomatic relations with South Africa, and contented itself with condemnation.
But today, the National Assembly of Nigeria, represented by the House of Representatives and the Senate, decided to suspend all official visits to South Africa, while issuing directives to boycott all legislative activities and events hosted or organized by South Africa until further notice.
The decision came in a statement issued by the leadership of the National Assembly, signed by its Secretary-General Kamoro Ogunlana, and published by the News Agency of Nigeria, where the statement stressed that the decision reflects “the grave concern of the National Assembly regarding the safety, dignity and well-being of Nigerian citizens abroad.”
The statement added: “The National Assembly calls on the government of the Republic of South Africa to take urgent and concrete measures to protect Nigerians and other African nationals, and to prevent further attacks.” It also called for “comprehensive investigations into the reported incidents, the arrest of suspected perpetrators, and the prosecution of those involved in accordance with the law.”
The statement stressed that the decisions to suspend and boycott visits to South Africa “will remain in effect until further notice,” stressing that these decisions “may be subject to review by the leadership of the National Assembly, whenever circumstances require that.”
The current decision is limited to the legislative and parliamentary spheres, and does not mean severing diplomatic relations between two countries that represent the largest economies of the African continent, but they have strong historical relations, as Nigeria supported South Africa’s struggle against apartheid.
But as events escalate, and the targeting of Nigerian and African immigrants increases, relations between the two countries may become tense, especially in light of the increase in popular sentiment, due to the pictures and videos being circulated on social media documenting acts of violence against African immigrants in South Africa.
Reports speak of renewed waves of violence against African immigrants in South Africa, the most famous of which occurred in 2008, when more than 60 African immigrants were killed and tens of thousands of them were displaced. Then, violence renewed in 2015 and 2019, with attacks on shops and neighborhoods inhabited by Africans.
But the most violent wave broke out in late March, when protests began organized by groups such as Operation Dodola and Marsh and Marsh, demanding the deportation of irregular migrants and setting a deadline of June 30 for their departure.
Some protests quickly turned into acts of violence, in which shops were looted, homes were burned, and incidents of beatings and killings were recorded, including among immigrants holding legal residency documents, forcing tens of thousands of African immigrants to leave South Africa.
Meanwhile, anti-immigration groups say that their campaign targets irregulars alone, due to unemployment, crime, and pressure on public services, and they deny that they are racist. However, human rights organizations and South African courts have described some of the activities of these groups as based on intimidation and hate speech, and a ruling was issued in November 2025 against some of these groups and bans some of their activities.
For its part, the South African authorities officially condemned the violence and carried out deportations, but Nigeria and other countries accused them of negligence in protection and prosecution.
The regional government reported that at least 26 students were killed, and dozens injured, in the city of Bukavu, eastern Congo, as a result of a fire that broke out today (Thursday) in two neighboring schools.
The South Kivu regional government said in a statement that 19 girls and 7 boys were killed, indicating that the death toll is likely to increase. Lawrence Kanyoka, spokesman for the armed M23 movement, which controls the city of Bukavu, announced earlier that 19 girls and 5 boys had been killed, adding that 29 people were receiving treatment in local medical facilities.
Local district official Musa Lubala told the Associated Press that the fire broke out in a house before spreading to two neighboring schools. He added that a number of students were trapped inside Furaha Secondary School, and some of them suffocated. Nurse Sisa Jean-Baptiste said that a group of students, including boys and girls of different ages, from Foraha Secondary School and Ujamaa Primary School, were taken to Nyamulagira PDOM Health Center wearing their school uniforms. He pointed out that medical teams faced difficulty in counting the exact number of injured people, due to their large numbers. “The exit was very narrow, so some students started jumping out of the windows, while others rushed toward the door,” Lubala said. As everyone tried to make their way out, some students fell to the ground and were run over.”
Lubala explained that the cause of the fire is unknown, noting that the neighborhood where the fire broke out is densely populated, and that most of the houses there are made of wood. Health services are facing severe pressure as the region battles the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in history, which has claimed the lives of more than 3,300 people, while more than 6,800 confirmed cases have been recorded.
At least 11 civilians were killed in an attack launched by the Boko Haram group, on Monday, against a small village in Adamawa State, located in eastern Nigeria, on the border with Cameroon, and one of the areas most affected by terrorist attacks during the past months.
Local sources said that the terrorist attack targeted the village of Dzangula, located in Gombe Local Government Area, adjacent to Hong District, Adamawa State. A week ago, Hong District was subjected to a terrorist attack in which at least 10 civilians were killed.
Speaker of the state House of Representatives, Mathia Wesley, said on Tuesday that this attack “represents a new episode in a long series of repeated attacks,” before calling on the authorities in Nigeria to “find a permanent solution to give the affected communities a period of rest and breathing space.”
Wesley said that the local residents of this area “do not deserve these atrocities that are constantly being committed against them.” He added, addressing the people: “We stand by your side in these difficult times.”
On the other hand, the head of the Gombe local area, Marcus Ishaya, said that the toll was more than 12 dead, all of them civilians, while two people were injured and receiving treatment in the hospital, and one woman was kidnapped, and the search for her is still ongoing, as he put it.
However, a number of local residents confirmed that there are a number of people still missing, as security teams continue to comb the forests surrounding the area to search for them, without determining the exact number of these missing people.
Residents also confirmed that the perpetrators of the attack stormed the village, early on Monday morning, shooting randomly and setting fire to homes while the residents were sleeping, prompting the people to flee towards the forests. The initial outcome indicates that a church and three houses were burned, resulting in material losses.
This region is considered one of the regions of Nigeria most affected by terrorist attacks, due to its proximity to the Sambisa Forest, where the “Boko Haram” group and the “ISIS” organization in West Africa are based, and it is the forest in which terrorist factions are struggling for influence, in a war that local communities are paying a heavy price for in terms of lives.
A Nigerian military source said that the authorities deployed joint security forces (soldiers, police and forest guards) in the area to restore calm and prevent further attacks.
On the other hand, the Nigerian army announced that the forces of the “Haden Kai” military operation, specialized in the war on terrorism, thwarted an ambush set up by “Boko Haram” fighters along the Buni Gari-Buratai axis in Borno State, the far northeast of the country.
The spokesman for the military operation, Muhammad Goni, said that the terrorist attack occurred on Monday while the forces were conducting a routine patrol along the road axis, noting that the forces responded to the attack and clashed with the terrorists, forcing them to withdraw from the area, while reinforcements were deployed to comb the ambush site and carry out additional operations in the surrounding area.
According to Goni, the forces discovered and dismantled several makeshift camps believed to have been used by terrorists as staging points and temporary hideouts. The seized items confiscated from the area included a motorcycle, bicycles, an ammunition store, ammunition, and rocket-propelled grenades.
Goni confirmed that no army personnel were killed or injured during the clash, although some military vehicles were damaged, adding that the forces continued their field missions and completed the operation successfully, as he put it.
Since 2009, Nigeria has been facing an armed insurgency led by the Boko Haram group, before a faction split from it to pledge allegiance to ISIS in 2016. Although the army has made gains in confronting these terrorist organizations, it has not lost its ability to launch violent and bloody attacks.
