XEN·O·PHO·BI·A [zen-uh-foh-bee-uh] n.
an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers.
Nearly 9 000 Mozambique nationals have crossed the border from South Africa, fleeing the xenophobic violence that left at least 24 migrants dead, eight of them from Mozambique, officials said Wednesday.
At least 42 people have been killed and more than 25,000 driven from their homes in 12 days of attacks by mobs who have stabbed, clubbed and burnt migrants from other parts of Africa.
South Africa's aspirations to lead the continent are being shredded by the xenophobic mobs who have hacked, shot and beaten to death more than 40 African migrants.
The initial attacks began on May 11 in Alexandra in which the first two people killed were South Africans who refused to join a mob that began after a community meeting about crime, for which foreigners, especially Zimbabweans and Mozambicans, are often blamed. The people at that meeting apparently added to the list that foreigners take jobs, houses & even "our women."
As a mob rampage began, no distinction was made between recent, illegal immigrants and long-time residents who have obtained South African residency or citizenship.
"These same people are the ones who have been our neighbours for more than 10 years," said a Malawian woman who was too frightened to give her name.
Lerotholi Kafile, 32, was locking his door and heading into town, hoping friends would take him in. Mr. Kafile, a Xhosa South African, described how he was awoken on Sunday night by a mob of stick-wielding men demanding that he join them to hunt for "the Shangaanis," the dominant ethnic group from Mozambique.
"They said, 'We just want Shangaanis; if you get a Shangaani, just beat him.' "
They went from house to house and checked identity documents, or even a style of shoe they thought gave away a foreigner, said Mr. Kafile, a 32-year-old miner; he followed them for nearly an hour before he managed to sneak away and carry his three young children out of the settlement.
Some analysts said the violence raised doubts about South Africa's suitability to host the 2010 soccer World Cup.
"How can they host the world if they can't live side by side with people who are different from them?"
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