South African President, Jacob Zuma, on Friday held a closed door meeting with various foreign national groups and African civil society groups to seek an end to Xenophobic Attacks.

The meeting comes in the wake of the recent spate of xenophobic attacks that started about three weeks ago and have claimed the lives of seven persons.

The groups had a chance to discuss underlying issues affecting most migrant groups in their adopted communities and their relationships with local citizens.

Just two days ago, the President and various government departments held a meeting with the country’s migration policy at the centre.

Anti-immigratnt protests had started in KwaZulu-Natal province before it spread to Johannesburg.

The xenophobic attacks have been linked to a speech by an influential Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, but he said he was taken out of context.

In a speech aimed at addressing comments he made that had been blamed for the unrest, The Zulu King on Monday described the anti-immigrant attacks as “vile”.

“We need to make sure no more foreigners are attacked. We must stop these vile acts,” Zwelithini told thousands of supporters at the Moses Mabhida Football Stadium in Durban.

To end the protest, the government on Tuesday deployed military personnel to the streets, stressing its commitment to ending the attacks on foreigners that had forced some African countries to evacuate their nationals.