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Cape Town: Foreigners displaced by xenophobic violence would be better housed in small, localised shelters rather than large refugee camps, government officials said on Thursday.
Camps sheltering thousands of refugees could raise security and health issues, government spokesman Themba Maseko said after a Cabinet meeting where ministers discussed the crisis.
"We should not opt for the creation of refugee camps but create temporary shelters because every attempt must be made to reintegrate foreign nationals," he said.
About 40,000 foreigners - many from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi - have fled their homes since attacks on immigrants erupted in a Johannesburg township nearly three weeks ago and then spread to other parts of the country. At least 56 people were killed by South Africans who blame foreigners for crime and accuse them of taking jobs.
The government is under pressure to move those who have sought refuge in police stations, town halls and churches to better shelters amid concerns about deteriorating conditions and the risk of disease.
In Cape Town, nearly 20,000 people are staying in makeshift tent cities, but authorities have been criticised for promoting "internment camps" in remote locations.
Troops remain on standby should the violence flare up again, he said.
Bomb threats
The headquarters of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) was evacuated after a bomb threat yesterday, the third in one day in and around Johannesburg, where tensions are running high after a wave of xenophobic violence.
Police also cleared a high-end shopping centre in the northern Sandton financial district and a court east of the city after separate bomb threats. Officials said they did not know whether the three events were linked. No arrests have been made.
"Obviously people are very, very nervous ... we don't know where it is going to stop," said Yakoob Makda, a senior official with the Johannesburg government.
Police found no explosives in the ANC building.
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