MAPUTO - Mozambique officials said last night that they will do everything possible to protect the lives of the more than 3 million Mozambican nationals living and working in South Africa amid fresh threats of a new wave of xenophobic attacks.

Domingos Fernandes, a senior officer at the ministry of foreign affairs, told the public channel TVM that “the government has its eyes opened monitoring the situation in South Africa” to avert such attacks in the past when many Mozambicans where killed by angry mobs.

Fernandes also told reporters that the xenophobic threats will be an issue to be raised during the emergency SADC (Southern Africa Development Committee) Foreign Ministers Meeting due to be held tomorrow in Maputo, Mozambique, as a way compel a regional condemnation of such despicable acts.

Mozambique’s Consul in South Africa, Fernando Fazenda, told TVM yesterday that the consulate is liaising with local authorities to try to prevent such incidents.

Fazenda added that the consulate is urging all Mozambican nationals to stay calm and alert. In case the situation worsens or the threats materialise “they must contact the embassy so that they can be given direction as to how to abandon the places where the violence occurs. They also must avoid confrontation”.

In 2008, over 60 people were killed when gangs of local poor black South Africans armed with clubs, machetes and torches descended on informal settlements and shanty towns, and attacked immigrants from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Several hundred immigrants were injured, and many thousands of displaced, or returned to their home countries.

Mozambicans accounted for more than half of the death toll.

South Africans accuse foreigners of taking jobs away from them, among other grievances.

To avert a repeat of the acts South African police and the military have been deployed in several townships due to growing threats against foreign migrant workers and protests about squalid living conditions, reports in the country say.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwean refugees returning to their home country in recent days are reporting fears of a resurgence in anti-foreigner violence in South Africa, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

The IOM’s centre at South African border town Beitbridge “reports increased traffic of Zimbabweans who have decided to temporarily return home because of fears of xenophobic flare-ups in South Africa,” said Jared Bloch, spokesman for the agency.

A survey of 140 returning Zimbabweans over the weekend also found that more than 90% had fled threats of violence while the rest had actually suffered xenophobic violence, he added.

“Cross-border flows over the last week of the World Cup were atypically characterised by trucks laden with furniture and other household goods, indicating that people are anticipating outbreaks of xenophobic violence and are sending their belongings back to Zimbabwe to minimise losses and to allow for a quicker flight should they need to make a quick getaway,” said Bloch.

The spokesman did not have figures on the numbers of returning Zimbabweans in recent days.

Meanwhile, a report says recent attacks on foreign refugees in Mozambique have led the local representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to call for action against xenophobia before it gains momentum.

In the city of Nampula, capital of the northeastern province of Nampula, a Burundian shop owner with official refugee status was attacked in late March by local Mozambicans who looted his store. They also damaged the bus he used in a transport business, claiming he was trafficking in children. Two other Burundian refugees in the area also reported being attacked.

"I want to put it in context: these were isolated incidents, but significant in the sense that if we don't end this properly - put an end to attacks with xenophobic intent in terms of bringing people to book - it could set a precedent," said Victoria Akyeampong, the UNHCR representative for Mozambique.

Last week, barber stalls operated by three Congolese refugees in Nampula were ransacked and one of the barbers was stabbed, according to AIM, the state-run news agency.

In Maputo, the capital, another Burundian shop owner with official refugee status was killed last year after unidentified people fired on his home. According to UNHCR, the man's store had been repeatedly looted prior to the incident.

Nampula police told UNHCR they had arrested 14 people for the attack on the Burundian shop owner, and that criminal charges were expected.

"Awareness building" was also needed to clamp down on "possible xenophobic tendencies that appear to be rising". "This also seems to be the case in South Africa, where urban refugees have been victimised in similar fashion," Akyeampong said.

Local opinion was mixed. Some suggest the attacks might stem from a misconception that the refugees living in Mozambique were somehow receiving extra benefits from the government or that local people might be jealous of their success.

By Staff reporter and agencies