Mozambique declares a state of emergency as thousands flee anti-foreigner violence

Officials warned the "exodus will worsen" as thousands are still housed in makeshift camps awaiting transport back home.

Meanwhile, South African police reported more violence Friday, with sporadic incidents reported across the country, including Cape Town and Durban, leaving scores more homeless. No further deaths have been reported.

Cape Town police spokesman Billy Jones said about 400 people had sought shelter on a racetrack after 12 people were injured in overnight attacks on an informal settlement in Cape Town.

Fleeing violence: Immigrants from Mozambique line up to board buses back to their country from Primrose, South Africa

"The area is quiet now but we are maintaining a visible presence," he said, adding that many of the displaced had been moved to various community centers and town halls.

At least 42 people have been killed and more than 25,000 foreigners displaced since attacks began earlier this month by South Africans who blame them for crime and unemployment.

Thousands have taken shelter in the winter cold at police stations, churches and other temporary camps. Officials plan to build tent cities on vacant land for them.

Predicting an escalating ''exodus," Mozambique Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi said the state of emergency had been declared Thursday night as thousands of Mozambicans flooded across the border.

Baloi said about 10,000 people had returned on their own while 620 people arrived Thursday in buses arranged by the consulate in Johannesburg.

He said the violence in South Africa had been discussed by President Armando Guebuza and his Cabinet, who decided the government's relief agency would provide support to fleeing citizens.

In South Africa, inspector Sanku Tsunke said police were investigating the distribution of pamphlets calling for foreigners to leave the township of Garankua outside Pretoria. He said the pamphlets warned illegal immigrant to leave by Friday.

Other incidents have been reported in the eastern province of Mpumalanga, which borders Mozambique. Four shops belonging to Somali businessmen were burned as well as two buses, South African Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Armed response: Police stand guard as African immigrants pack their possessions as they flee a fresh outbreak of anti-foreigner violence in Cape Town

Violence has also been reported in northern and western areas of South Africa.
On Wednesday, President Thabo Mbeki called in the South African National Defense Force for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Soldiers were used in a dawn swoop Thursday on three downtown Johannesburg worker hostels whose residents allegedly were involved in inciting violence. In all, 28 people were arrested.

The situation in and around Johannesburg where the worst violence broke out was calmer Friday. But there are now fears about the spread of disease and illness among the displaced.

Big problem: A policeman walks past a burning home in the shantytown of Reiger Park

Bianca Tolboom, a nurse with the international aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres, said conditions were overcrowded and there was concern about access to clean drinking water.

"Some people have been staying in the open air with not sufficient blankets, so now the main medical concerns are respiratory tract infections and diarrhea," she said.

"The other main concern is the mental health. People are very traumatized. There have been a lot of stress related body pains, high blood pressure."

Tolboom said people were also suffering from colds as well as throat and chest infections.

"As people continue to stay in these conditions, more and more people will get sick," she said.