Displaced persons face uncertainty as S’Africa camp closes

Displaced persons face uncertainty as S’Africa camp closes

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The last camp in South Africa hosting displaced foreigners following a series of xenophobic attacks across the country in April, is scheduled to close on Tuesday, officials from the municipality where it is located have told Al Jazeera. 

Tozi Mthethwa, Head of Communications for the eThekwini municipality, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the Chatsworth camp, which at one stage hosted more than 5,000 people displaced by the violence, would be closed after a municipality assessment found that the situation had normalised. 

“After assessing the conditions and conducting extensive community dialogues through the Provincial Department of Community Safety and Liaison, the city is pleased that the situation has normalised which therefore means that the shelter should cease to operate,” Mthethwa said in a statement issued to Al Jazeera. 
“African immigrants at the shelter have been offered an option of being reintegrated into the communities they once lived in, while others have requested to be repatriated to their countries of origin.” 

At least eight people were killed and thousands of others displaced in a series of attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa in April.

The violence started in Durban and quickly spread to areas around Johannesburg, prompting worldwide condemnation.

There are still 212 people, mostly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, living at the camp, and they say it is too dangerous to move back to their communities around Durban, or return to their home countries.