SA denies planning refugee camps

South Africa's government has denied it is setting up massive migrant or refugee camps for the tens of thousands of foreigners who fled recent attacks.

Aid agencies had said the government would reveal plans to set up seven camps for up to 70,000 people.

But a home affairs spokeswoman said temporary shelters accommodating 2,000 each would be set up instead. A formal announcement will be made on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UN said it is helping South Africa plan relief efforts.

It is conducting a survey of the conditions in the police stations and municipal halls in which the displaced people are currently living, UN spokesman George Nsiah told the BBC .

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) has warned that those sheltering in makeshift camps or outdoors have been left without protection - either physical or legal.

"It's very cold at night, it's almost like one or two degrees. It's been raining in the last few days," said MSF South Africa programme director Muriel Cornelis.

"And then legal protection - most of them do not have any status, no legal status, no temporary status."

A spokesman for the UNHCR said very few of the displaced foreigners fit the formal definition of "refugee".

Nevertheless, the government is coming under considerable pressure to organise better accommodation than the makeshift camps currently housing most of the displaced people.

Correspondents say it has made it clear that any option which isolates rather than integrates foreigners into the community would be contrary to its policy.

Overcrowding

The government said in a statement that reports, made on the BBC, that it intended to set up "refugee camps" for tens of thousands of displaced foreigners were "baseless and therefore not true".

RED CROSS DISPLACED South Africa: about 51,000 Gauteng: 28,000 Western Cape: 20,000 KwaZulu Natal: 2,500 Mozambique: 27,234 Malawi: 480 Zimbabwe: 123 In pictures: Displaced life in SA

Home affairs department spokesperson Siobhan McCarthy said temporary shelters would ensure displaced migrants had access to health services, food and sanitation, the South African Press Association reports.

MSF said it was finding cases of diarrhoea and chest infections in overcrowded existing shelters near Johannesburg.

The International Red Cross's Francoise Le Goff told the BBC it was vital people found alternative places to stay.

"We have problems with sanitation; it's cold; people are getting sick, so their security is barely there," she said.

"People need to leave this place and have an area where they can settle a little better and where they can reorganise a better life."

Compensation

The unrest, targeting migrants from Zimbabwe and other African countries, began near Johannesburg earlier this month.

Fifty-six people have been killed and more than 650 injured in the attacks, according to officials.

Aid agencies say the true number of displaced people is at least 80,000.

Nigeria says it will press for compensation from the South African government for its citizens who were victims of the violence.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe said that no Nigerians were killed in the attacks, but many have lost their properties and others have had their shops looted.

Many people have fled South Africa to countries including Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana.

Resentment against foreigners who are seen to be harder working and better educated than locals have been cited a factors fuelling the violence.

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