A first group of more than 260 Nigerians repatriated from South Africa following escalating anti-immigrant attacks landed in Lagos on Thursday.

Lagos (AFP) – A first group of more than 260 Nigerians repatriated from South Africa following escalating anti-immigrant attacks landed in Lagos on Thursday.

Anti-foreigner violence has convulsed South Africa for weeks as gangs armed with sticks, whips and shields have marched through parts of the “rainbow nation”, demanding that people with no residency papers leave by June 30.

Foreign nationals have reported being intimidated and beaten by mobs going door to door, families have been forced from their homes, and many have left in the face of the threats.

Ghana, Mozambique and Malawi have already repatriated hundreds of their citizens in recent weeks.

South Africa is one of Africa’s largest economies and hosts more than three million foreigners, just over five percent of its population, according to the country’s statistics agency.

But unemployment exceeds 30 percent, fuelling anger toward migrant workers.

A chartered Air Peace plane carrying 262 Nigerian nationals – most of them women and children – landed at Lagos’s Murtala Mohammed International Airport mid-morning on Thursday, said Nigeria’s foreign ministry.

A South African government statement put the number flown out at 268.

Many wearing sweaters and thick coats, a reminder of the southern hemisphere winter from where they were coming, walked off the plane into the scorching Nigerian sun.

“South Africa is a wicked country,” said one of the returnees, 45-year-old Emilia Godwin, who has lived in South Africa for 11 years, cooking and selling Nigerian food.

“They like eating our food, but they don’t like us,” she said.

Godwin said she had left all her possessions, coming back home with just a 23-kilogramme (51-pound) bag.

“Even when you apply to have your residence permit, they will use the opportunity to arrest you,” she said.

Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sola Enikanolaiye welcomed the first batch.

A second group is due to be flown out on June 15.

There are around 1,000 in total who have said they want to leave South Africa, the ministry has said.

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