By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, May 22, 2008

JOHANNESBURG, May 21 -- President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday called on South Africa's military to help quell widening attacks against immigrants in the nation's poorest neighborhoods, where images of riots, overwhelmed police and burning victims have revived chilling memories of apartheid-era violence.

At least 13,000 people have been chased from their homes, often a step ahead of mobs demanding that foreigners return to their native countries. News reports put the death toll at 42, with hundreds injured.

The attacks started in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra but have spread quickly. More than 400 people have been arrested, but it remains unclear who might have organized the initial attacks.

Police officials requested assistance from the military on Tuesday, said police spokeswoman Sally de Beer, and Mbeki approved the request Wednesday. She said troops will be deployed "as soon as possible."

De Beer said the assistance will include logistical support, but she emphasized that the main responsibility for controlling the violence remains with the police force.

Some township residents complain that immigrants undercut wages, contribute to high crime rates and take the best jobs and housing in economically depressed areas.

Many victims fled their homes with nothing more than a plastic bag full of possessions and the clothes they were wearing when crowds appeared wielding sharpened sticks, machetes, boards, stones and, in some cases, guns.

Police stations in the Johannesburg area have become virtual refugee camps, with international aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross setting up emergency facilities. Police conference rooms have been turned into feeding centers, and churches and civic groups have been organizing donation drives. But conditions for the displaced are dire.

"Now we are in a situation where people are living in absolutely unacceptable conditions," said Eric Goemaere, the top Doctors Without Borders official in South Africa. "There's no sanitation. People are scattered all over the place."

Tensions have been rising for years because of an influx of several million immigrants from South Africa's less-prosperous neighbors, especially Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe's quest to maintain power after 28 years has deepened an already serious political and economic crisis.

Inflation in Zimbabwe has topped 1 million percent, according to a new report. A runoff election between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is scheduled for June 27, but few Zimbabweans expect a quick resolution of the country's troubles.