Last Sunday, President John Dramani Mahama raised an alarm over the recent xenophobic attacks on African nationals in South Africa, describing the killings of Ghanaians and Nigerians as a matter of urgent concern to the continent.
The President made the call in Lungi, Sierra Leone, at the 69th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, the climax of the ECOWAS Mid-Year Statutory Meetings. He said Ghana was deeply troubled by the loss of lives and the fear and intimidation the attacks had caused, and welcomed the ECOWAS Authority’s decision to back Ghana’s request to have the matter placed on the agenda of the next African Union (AU) Summit.
President Mahama’s call should ring in every capital across West Africa. Ghanaians and Nigerians have been killed in the xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Not injured. Not harassed. Killed.
The President put it plainly: this is “a matter of urgent concern to the continent.” Ghana welcomed ECOWAS’ decision to back our request to place the issue on the agenda of the next AU Summit. That is the right first step. But it cannot be the last.
“Africa’s liberation was achieved through solidarity across our borders,” President Mahama reminded Heads of State.
“We must never allow that proud legacy to be weakened by intolerance and the actions of a small minority.” He is right.
The same solidarity that drove the anti-apartheid struggle, that hosted refugees, that built ECOWAS itself, is now being tested on the streets.
When a Ghanaian trader or a Nigerian student is attacked because of their nationality, it is not just a crime against an individual; it is an attack on the idea of Africa.
It tells young people that our shared history means less than our differences.
Ghana is “deeply troubled by the loss of lives and the fear and intimidation the attacks have caused.”
So are we all. Fear travels fast. That is how integration dies — not with a treaty, but with terror.
The AU must treat this with the urgency it deserves.
Governments must protect all Africans on their soil, prosecute perpetrators swiftly, and speak out before mobs do. Silence is complicity.
The Daily Graphic expects the African Union to treat this as the crisis it is.
First, place xenophobia squarely on the agenda of the next AU Summit.
Not as an “AOB” item, but as a headline issue.
Second, pass a binding resolution.
Africa cannot claim “We are one people” in speeches and then watch citizens kill each other on the streets.
The resolution must obligate every member state to protect all Africans on its territory, regardless of nationality.
Countries that fail to protect other Africans must face action at the AU Peace and Security Council.
That could mean public censure, suspension from AU programmes, or targeted sanctions against officials who enable or excuse the violence.
Solidarity cannot be voluntary. If it is, it is not solidarity.
South Africa must also lead by example. It was the biggest beneficiary of African solidarity during apartheid. It now has the biggest responsibility to ensure that legacy is not betrayed by a small minority of violent actors.
Think about that. From the OAU to the AU. From supporting liberation movements to building the AfCFTA.
All of it can be unravelled by videos of violence and politicians who profit from division. It is already happening.
Border delays are getting worse because officials “suspect” traders from other countries.
When people stop believing in regional integration, they start believing in “us vs them.”
The reminder in the President’s speech is simple: give people something to believe in, and hate loses its power.
Democracy is not just the right to vote every four years; it is the right to a job, to health, to safety, to dignity.
Until we deliver that, we will keep producing the conditions for xenophobia.
The killings of Ghanaians and Nigerians in South Africa must be the last straw, not just another item on an agenda.
The AU must act. ECOWAS must implement.
Because 60 years of pan-African work did not happen so that Africans could kill Africans.
It happened so that Africans could live, work and thrive together.
If we forget that, we will lose more than lives.
We will lose the idea of Africa itself. And that is a loss we cannot afford.
