JOHANNESBURG—South African soldiers joined police in operations around Johannesburg on Thursday to help end attacks on African immigrants that have killed at least 42 people.
Troops backed police in early morning raids and air force helicopters patrolled Alexandra township after President Thabo Mbeki approved army intervention to quell unrest that has threatened to destabilise Africa's largest economy.
At least 25,000 people have been forced from their homes in 11 days of attacks by mobs that accuse immigrants of taking jobs and fuelling crime. Police say 550 people have been injured in the attacks and 519 arrested.
Mozambique said over 10,000 of its people had fled back to the country.
Police, supported by soldiers, conducted early morning raids on three dormitory hostels near Johannesburg, the first army involvement to stop the attacks.
Firearms and ammunition were seized and 28 men were arrested. None of them were immediately linked to the violence, police spokeswoman Sally de Beer said.
The attacks have increased political instability at a time of power shortages and disaffection over Mbeki's pro-business policies. Soaring food and fuel prices helped push tensions to breaking point.
"It is another blow—although I wouldn't advise panicking at this point in time," said BNP Paribas strategist Elizabeth Gruie of the attacks. "We have to see how the government can deal with that in the very short term."
The deputy leader of the ruling African National Congress, Kgalema Motlanthe, criticised the police delay in responding to the violence which erupted in Alexandra township on May 11 and spread rapidly.
Criticism
"The delay encouraged people in similar environments to wage similar attacks against people who came from our sister countries on the continent," Motlanthe said at an international media industry conference in Johannesburg.
"We are confronted by one of the ugliest incidents in the post-apartheid era".
Mozambique said 10,047 migrants and their families had returned from South Africa since the violence broke out.
"The number is likely to increase in the next days as long as violence unfolds in South Africa," Deputy Immigration Director Leonardo Boby told Reuters in Maputo.
The South African currency fell sharply earlier this week on the back of the violence. The rand was firmer on Thursday at 7.6695 to the U.S. dollar.
The biggest group of immigrants come from Zimbabwe. An estimated three million have fled economic collapse at home.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai visited Alexandra on Thursday and met Zimbabweans sheltering at the police station there.
One refugee said he was considering going home despite the fact that in Zimbabwe he would have to face hyperinflation, shortages of food and an upsurge of political violence since disputed March 29 elections.
"I'm too scared," said Samuel Dhliwayo, a 30-year-old Zimbabwean who worked as a painter.
South Africa has a population of about 50 million and is home to an estimated 5 million immigrants.
Its reputation as a haven for immigrants and asylum seekers is in tatters, and there are growing fears that the crisis could dent the country's lucrative tourism industry and cripple its hosting of the 2010 soccer World Cup.
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