Thousands of migrants leave South Africa

 

TT

 

Published 16:20Updated 16:24

   

Malawian migrants queue at a temporary center in Durban, South Africa, in mid-June. Photo: Themba Hadebe /AP/TT

In the past month, 38,000 Malawians have left South Africa following violent protests against migrants in the country, AFP reports.

Citizens from a number of countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe, have fled South Africa since the end of May, after extremist groups stepped up their attacks on undocumented migrants and demanded they leave the country.

About 60,000 migrants have left South Africa since the beginning of June, according to the South African Border Authority.

More than half of them are Malawians, followed by Zimbabweans, Ugandans, Mozambicans and Kenyans.

Malawi's disaster management agency says six people died of illness during the long and dangerous journey home.

"They were chased and moved from place to place and could not access their medicines and hospital care," the agency's commissioner Wilson Moleni told AFP.