Ramaphosa urges African unity on migration amid anti-migrant unrest

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday called for greater African cooperation on migration, urging countries to address conflict, instability, poverty and governance failures driving people to leave their homes.

Addressing the Pan-African Parliament, Ramaphosa said unmanaged migration could undermine security and social order and stressed that no country could address the challenge alone. He also condemned recent attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa as "sad and abhorrent."

His remarks come amid weeks of anti-migrant protests, with activists blaming undocumented migrants for crime, unemployment and pressure on public services. More than 160,000 foreign nationals have left South Africa over the past two months, according to an AFP tally based on figures from repatriating governments, in one of the country's largest recent migrant exoduses.

At least four migrants have been killed in the recent violence. Ghana has called for African Union action over the attacks, while two Ghanaian nationals have petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate what they describe as repeated xenophobic attacks in South Africa, a move Pretoria has dismissed as "opportunistic."