By Gerald Imray, Associated Press
Cape Town, South Africa (AP) – The statement of US President Donald Trump this week that there is an “genocide” not declared against white farmers in South Africa was his most severe accusation to date against a country he has moved to punish on a range of problems shortly after his return to power.
Trump criticisms mainly focused on its allegations that the Government of South Africa feeds anti-white racism in the majority black country, leading to the murder of white farmers. This was refused by the South African government.
But Trump has also strongly criticized South African foreign policy, and in particular his decision to carry Israel before the United Nations Court of the Court and to accuse him of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Trump cited this case against an American ally as an example of what he described as a greater anti-American position in South Africa. The American president has now accused of South Africa, formerly a key partner in Africa, of the same crime of genocide.
Israel and Hamas
South Africa launched its highly controversial genocide affair against Israel at the International Court of Justice at the beginning of 2024, putting a development nation which is not a diplomatic heavyweight at the forefront of the Pro-Palestinian movement at a particularly conflictual moment. The decision of South Africa caused tensions with the United States under the Biden administration and other Western countries, which rejected the accusation that Israel made a genocide.
But Trump’s reaction was much stronger, quoting the case against Israel in a decree of February 7 which sanctioned South Africa and stopped all the help and aid in the United States. The Order said that South Africa had taken “aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies” and that the case has shown its support for the Palestinian group Hamas, which is appointed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others.
The US government on Trump has also suppressed pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli demonstrations at home.
South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian and criticism of Israel. But while the government has tried to draw a line between this and any support for Hamas, the distinctions became blurred, as when the grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela welcomed Hamas officials during a visit to South Africa in 2023.
Links with Iran
Trump’s decree also accused South Africa of strengthening its links with Iran through commercial, military and nuclear arrangements. South Africa holds diplomatic links with Iran, but said that it had no agreement with Iran on nuclear weapons, although Iran was allowed to bid, alongside other countries, for a commercial contract to build a nuclear reactor to provide electricity.
The South African Institute for Security Studies, a non -profit research institute, said Trump “reacted excessively” to South African relations with Iran, but South Africa “should not be surprised either if they are judged by the company they keep”.
Boycott the G20 presidency in South Africa
The United States has decided to effectively boycott the South South African Presidency of the group of 20 developed and developing countries this year, the first time that a African nation has organized the rotating presidency.
The American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, jumped a meeting of the G20 foreign ministers in Johannesburg in February, claiming that the theme of South Africa of “solidarity, equality and sustainability” was indeed Dei (diversity, equity and inclusion) and climate change and he would not waste money from American taxpayers. The Trump administration has moved to dismantle Dei programs in the United States
Shortly after Rubio jumped the meeting, the Trump administration suspended any cooperation with South Africa linked to its accommodation of G20 events, according to an American official.
The official, who spoke under the cover of anonymity to discuss the deliberations of the internal administration, said that the decision was because Trump does not support the G20 agenda in South Africa. The official said that this decision would not affect the American G20 presidency next year.
The regrowth of the United States will probably undermine South African efforts to progress on the questions it has prioritized for its presidency.
White producers
The Trump administration has brought more than 50 white South Africans to the United States this week as a refugee, saying that they are members of the Afrikaner minority group and are persecuted by their government led by black and exposed to violence based on breed.
South Africa says that it condemns the relatively low number of murders of white farmers, but the cause is to be Malfroisée and they are the result of its problems of violent crime and not motivated by racially.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa did not directly criticize Trump, but said that the American president was fed on false information by certain Afrikaner lobbies groups in South Africa and certain conservative commentators in the United States who have raised the problem.
Ramaphosa’s office said he would meet Trump at the White House next week to try to “reset” the relationships of the countries.
The writer Associated Press Matthew Lee contributed to this story of Washington.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
