S Africa, Nigeria beef up security

South Africa and Nigeria yesterday stepped up security after deadly attacks on foreign-owned stores in Johannesburg triggered reprisal assaults on South African businesses in Nigerian cities.

The centre of Johannesburg and the impoverished suburb of Alexandra were calm as police stepped up patrols following two days of looting, AFP reporters saw.

Shops cautiously began to open again, as some residents sifted around in wrecked stores, rummaging for food and anything usable.

Amid mounting concern for relations between South Africa and its neighbours and Nigeria -- the continent’s most populous market -- President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated his condemnation of the violence.

“We face a huge challenge. A number of people (are) taking the law into their own hands,” he said in Cape Town, ahead of a three-day meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) due to be attended by 15 African leaders.

Five people, most of them South Africans, have been killed and 289 have been arrested since the violence flared on Sunday. Dozens of shops have been destroyed in Johannesburg and nearby Pretoria, the country’s political capital.