South Africa must halt Zimbabwean deportations: group

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa is deporting Zimbabwean asylum seekers in violation of international law and should offer temporary residence to all migrants fleeing violence and an economic collapse there, a rights group said.

In a report released on Thursday, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch criticized South Africa for deporting nearly 200,000 Zimbabweans in 2007, some of whom were asylum seekers forced to return to face potential persecution.

It noted about 20,000 migrants from Zimbabwe, struck by political violence since elections on March 29, make asylum claims in South Africa every year.

"The surest way for the government to end its violation of international refugee law is to end the deportation of all Zimbabweans, including those fleeing the current violence," Gerry Simpson, a researcher for the group, said in a statement.

"South Africa should adopt a comprehensive policy that temporarily grants them the right to remain and work."

Officials at South Africa's Home Affairs department were not immediately available for comment.

An estimated three million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa in search of work and food. Zimbabwe is struggling with hyperinflation, an unemployment rate of 80 percent and chronic food and fuel shortages.

But tens of thousands have returned to Zimbabwe in the past month due to attacks on Zimbabweans and other African migrants living in townships around Johannesburg and other South African cities. At least 62 people were killed in the violence.

Critics have accused South African President Thabo Mbeki of missing signs of rising anti-immigrant feeling and of exacerbating the problem by downplaying the crisis in Zimbabwe.

"The South African government needs a more effective strategy to promote human rights and the rule of law in Zimbabwe itself," Simpson said.

The report comes about a week before Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai, the head of the Movement for Democratic Change, defeated Mugabe in the March 29 poll. But he failed to win the absolute majority required to avoid a second ballot, according to official results. The run-off is due to be held on June 27.

(Additional reporting by Muchena Zigomo; editing by Paul Simao and Elizabeth Piper)