Nigeria today urged the African Union to step in to stop what it said were "xenophobic attacks" on its citizens and other Africans in South Africa.<br/><br/>A senior presidential aide on foreign affairs, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said in a statement that there was a need for the continental body to "intervene urgently," claiming that in the last two years "about 116" Nigerians had been killed. <br/><br/>Dabiri-Erewa renewed Abuja's call on the government in Pretoria to take "decisive and definite measures" to protect Nigerian citizens and other Africans in South Africa.<br/><br/>According to the Nigerian Union , there are about 800,000 Nigerians in South Africa, many of them living in Johannesburg.