Nigeria and Ghana Ask AU to Address South Africa Protests

Nigeria and Ghana are asking the African Union to address anti-migrant protests and violence in South Africa after citizens of both countries were evacuated or repatriated and the dispute moved into regional diplomacy.

The two countries held talks on the sidelines of an Economic Community of West African States meeting in Liberia on July 18, according to Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reporting by Africanews. Nigeria said the governments agreed to work together against what they called “Afrophobic protests” targeting African nationals and to seek an African Union response.

What Nigeria and Ghana asked for

The governments called for stronger AU monitoring, early-warning systems and preventive diplomacy to address attacks, intimidation and other threats to migrants. Africanews reported that they wanted the issue placed on the agenda of an upcoming AU meeting.

That remains a diplomatic appeal, not an adopted AU measure. The available public AU record does not show that the organization formally accepted the request, created new mechanisms or adopted a specific response to the protests.

Repatriations and the legal distinction

Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry reported in updates published July 14 and July 16 that 1,490 Nigerians had been evacuated or repatriated from South Africa following what it called xenophobic attacks.

Africanews separately reported that almost 1,000 Ghanaians had also been repatriated or returned. That figure was reported by the news organization and is not treated here as independently confirmed by Ghana’s government.

The departures took place amid protests against undocumented migration, including reports of intimidation, looting, criminality and attacks against foreign nationals. But voluntary repatriation, a government-arranged evacuation and formal deportation are not interchangeable. They can carry different legal consequences for migrants, affect future travel and determine whether a person is recorded as having been removed for immigration violations.

The Associated Press reported that South Africa had deported or repatriated more than 53,000 immigrants in a crackdown on undocumented immigration. The broader enforcement campaign provides context for the diplomatic dispute, but it does not establish that every person who left South Africa was attacked, undocumented or involved in the protests.

South Africa backs broader migration dialogue

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said July 30 that the country supports a continent-wide conference on migration. The department said such a dialogue should address mobility, development, irregular migration, regional integration and the causes of anti-migrant sentiment.

South Africa also condemned assaults, intimidation, looting, robbery and other criminal acts against migrants. The department said the government was coordinating efforts to ensure that those responsible face prosecution.

At the same time, South Africa criticized selective approaches that single out individual countries. Its statement said the AU Executive Council had decided not to discuss migration at the upcoming mid-year review meeting. That is South Africa’s characterization of the AU process, rather than an independently confirmed finding in the public AU event record.

What the AU record shows

The AU confirms that its 49th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council took place in Addis Ababa on July 28 and 29. The event record says the session was expected to consider implementation of Agenda 2063, ratification and implementation of AU treaties, and progress on the 2026 theme of the year.

The meeting was an Executive Council session, not a summit. The AU record also explains that the mid-year coordination meeting is a separate forum involving the AU Assembly bureau and regional economic communities. The public material confirms the institutional meetings but does not independently establish that the South Africa protests became a formal agenda item or produced a specific AU response.

Why the dispute matters

The immediate issue has moved beyond South Africa’s domestic immigration enforcement. Nigeria and Ghana are trying to place migrant protection, consular responsibility and attacks against African nationals within regional diplomacy.

The dispute also has practical implications for families, businesses and cross-border travel. Further pressure could produce a formal AU agenda item, a communiqué, a fact-finding effort or preventive-diplomacy action. Until then, the documented positions are limited: Nigeria and Ghana have made a coordinated appeal, South Africa supports broader migration dialogue and criminal accountability, and the AU record does not yet show a new response to these protests.

Sources

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