Ecowas wants South Africans who attacked foreigners prosecuted

May 15 , 2015 The ECOWAS Parliament has deliberated on the recent attacks on African nationals by some South Africans in some parts of the country and has ruled that those involved in the attacks must have their day in the International Criminal Court. The organization also discussed the recent tragedy which befell about nine hundred immigrants who perished aboard a ship on the Mediterranean, urging national and regional parliaments to increase legislative efforts to provide good government, in the wake of the continued immigrant deaths in the Mediterranean.

The Speaker of the Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, spoke on the issue while addressing people at the opening of the 2015 First Ordinary Session of the Third Legislature in Abuja, Nigeria. He described the xenophobic attacks as barbaric and a total shame, as well as a contradiction of Africa’s heritage as ‘our brother’s keeper.”

He is quoted as saying, “The xenophobic attacks scorn international treaties and charters on human rights and are certainly out of sync with the realities of globalization. We must all rise up against the new face of apartheid and ensure that those involved are fished out and possibly dragged before the International Criminal Court,”

The Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian Senate was also unhappy that young Africans continue to die in the Mediterranean Sea in the desperate and illegal bid to reach Europe, adding that while the Transatlantic slave trade saw Africans chained and forcefully taken to foreign lands, the harsh economic realities on the continent have forced young people to embark on suicidal journeys to Europe and other parts of the world. He also blamed greed, ignorance and false expectations as some of the reasons for these misfortunes.

Senator Ekweremadu did give some solutions though, he said that good governance which creates jobs and equal opportunities and caters to the welfare and security of the people, would stop the unnecessary deaths.