SOUTH AFRICA:SOUTH AFRICA'S military has been deployed to the country's informal settlements for the first time since the end of apartheid in a bid to quell xenophobic violence.
President Thabo Mbeki, under growing pressure to act, signed off on the deployment of the military personnel on Tuesday evening following a request by the South African police service for help in tackling the crisis, which has left at least 42 foreigners dead.
Early yesterday morning a joint operation involving police and army was launched on hostels in Johannesburg's Jeppe and Cleveland settlements where people suspected of involvement in the race-related violence were staying.
National spokeswoman Sally de Beer said the cordon-and-search operations were "aimed at restoring peace and stability in various areas of the province which have been plagued with violence over the past several days".
"The joint operation was extremely successful and resulted in 28 arrests being effected, 150 kg of dagga [cannabis] being seized and firearms, ammunition and suspected stolen property being recovered." Ms De Beer said similar operations would take place over the coming days.
Yesterday's swoop brought to more than 400 the number of people arrested in connection with the outbreak of xenophobic violence. It is believed that around 17,000 foreigners have been displaced so far by the attacks.
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been in exile in South Africa since shortly after his country's March election because of fears Robert Mugabe's ruling regime would assassinate him, visited Zimbabwean refugees in Johannesburg's Alexander township.
The Movement for Democratic Change leader told the 1,000 refugees sheltering at a police station that he planned to return to Zimbabwe on Saturday to prepare for the country's presidential run-off on June 27th, and urged his country men and women to return home to cast their votes. "The cause for this crisis is none other than our political circumstances back home. I am going back home tomorrow [a spokesman later corrected this to Saturday] to resolve these problems," he said.
Elsewhere Mozambican officials confirmed they have repatriated some 9,000 citizens so far this week because they were too afraid to remain in South Africa for fear of attack.
Leonardo Boby, deputy national director of migration, said about 3,000 people a day had returned to Mozambique. "We are having hectic moments with the return of these people," he said. At least eight of those killed in the violence are believed to be Mozambican.
In Cape Town, National Intelligence Agency director general Manala Manzini told counterparts from around the continent he believed right-wing elements, similar to those who armed hostel dwellers in the run-up to the 1994 elections, were involved.
"We are beginning to see those movements taking place into hostels where people are beginning to organise and resuscitate some of those people that they have had contact with in the past," he said.