American Marconi Wireless News - S.Africa government holds urgent talks over anti-migrant tensions

Citizen-led groups that accuse illegal migrants of crime and taking jobs from locals have issued a deadline for them to go home by June 30, an ultimatum that has no official backing but has created alarm.

Justice, defence and crime ministers held an "urgent meeting" to finalise a "plan to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance", the government said.

They would also meet political parties and groups behind a wave of protests against illegal foreign nationals, it said.

Demonstrations have been building across the country over recent months, raising fears of a repeat of previous bouts of violence such as in 2008 when 62 people -- including 21 South Africans -- were killed.

Last week several hundred foreign nationals from countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Somalia sought protection in the eastern port city of Durban, saying locals were going door-to-door to tell them to leave by June 30.

African governments have expressed alarm, and Ghana is planning to repatriate this week hundreds of its nationals, its high commissioner Benjamin Quashie told AFP at the weekend, admitting many had expired work permits.

In new protests on Monday, hundreds of residents of the Katlehong township southwest of Johannesburg demanded police verify the documents of foreign nationals operating businesses, the SABC national broadcaster said.

A protest against a lack of services in a poorer suburb of the central city of Bloemfontein also targeted foreign nationals, it said.

The government has urged African nations to address the economic and governance crises that cause people to flock to South Africa, the continent's most industrialised country.

"This is a shared responsibility," foreign minister Ronald Lamola said at the weekend on the sidelines of a meeting of the 16-nation Southern African Development Community.

L.Davis--AMWN