[ 2011-05-26 ]

South Africa: Somali-owned shops attacked and looted
More than 50 Somali-owned shops in the South
African city of Port Elizabeth have been attacked
and looted by local residents.

Police said four shops had been burnt down and
about 200 Somalis living near the shop premises
had fled the unrest.

A Somali community leader told the BBC there was
some resentment in the area about the success of
Somali traders.

At least 62 people died in attacks on foreigners
that swept the country three years ago.

Correspondents say that in poorer areas, foreign
workers are often blamed for taking homes and jobs
from the local community.

'Tied up'

"About 200 Somalis ran away from their shops,
where a lot of them live, when other residents
started attacking them," Captain Andre Beetge,
from South Africa's Eastern Cape police force, is
quoted by the South African Press Association as
saying.

Capt Beetge put the trouble down to business
rivalry and said the situation was contained by
the early hours of Thursday morning and people
were now returning to their properties.

In total, 52 shops were looted and three were
burnt down in the Motherwell area and three shops
were looted and one torched in Kwadwesi, the
police said.

Abdirahman Yusuf Ahmed, a spokesman for the Somali
community in the Eastern Cape, said one Somali
trader was in hospital after he was tied up in his
shop when it was set alight.

Mr Ahmed told the BBC's Somali Service that in one
area local residents had tried to help when the
attacks began.

But the crowds ignored the attempts at
intervention and moved from one Somali-owned shop
to the next.

He said the recent local election could have
stirred up xenophobic feelings in the area.

"Some parties were campaigning that they would
expel the foreigners if they succeeded in the
elections," he said.

Source - BBC

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