Nigerian President Bola Tinubu formally raised concerns over recurring xenophobic and Afrophobic attacks against Africans in South Africa at an African Union summit on Sunday, calling for the issue to be placed on the agenda of the bloc’s next full assembly.
Tinubu’s remarks were delivered on his behalf by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the 21st Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly in Luanda, Angola. He warned that such attacks undermine African solidarity, unity and peaceful coexistence, and said they require urgent collective attention from the continent’s leaders.
Call for AU action
Tinubu asked that the matter be added to the agenda of the AU’s 40th Ordinary Session, scheduled for January 2027, for formal consideration and response. While acknowledging South Africa’s sovereign right to enforce its own immigration laws and recognizing its broader contributions to the continent, he argued the recurring incidents could not continue to be overlooked at a continental level.
He urged African leaders to reaffirm their commitment to protecting the safety, dignity and rights of all African nationals, and called for greater investment in dialogue and preventive diplomacy to address the root causes of such violence.
Broader security remarks
Beyond the xenophobia issue, Tinubu used the Luanda summit to address wider continental security concerns, backing the adoption of the Luanda Action Plan as a roadmap for conflict prevention. He said prevention remains more cost-effective than managing conflicts after they erupt, and cautioned that growing reliance on foreign armed personnel, mercenaries and private military contractors risks undermining the AU’s principle of African-led peace and security efforts.
