At least 1,500 foreign nationals have been forced to flee their homes in South Africa amid a surge in deadly xenophobic violence in the country, the United Nations said Friday.
The UN refugee agency voiced alarm at the violence, which reportedly killed at least 12 people -- both foreign nationals and South Africans -- in and around Johannesburg earlier this month in a spate of attacks against foreigners fuelled by soaring unemployment and poverty.
"At least 1,500 foreign nationals, predominantly migrants but also refugees and asylum-seekers, have been forced to flee their homes," UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley told reporters in Geneva
He said the agency's staff had in recent weeks received "a significant increase in calls to our telephone hotlines, with people reporting that their homes and businesses have been looted, buildings and property have been set on fire."