The United States, U.S has announced that it would boycott the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
U.S President Donald Trump announced this decision citing alleged “human rights abuses” against the country’s white Afrikaner farming community.
This decision of the U.S to boycott the G20 summit comes just weeks before the November 22-23 gathering.
Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social: “It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa.
“Afrikaners (people who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated,” he wrote.
“No U.S government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue.”
Trump had earlier said South Africa should not be in the G20 at all, and that he would send Vice President JD Vance instead of attending himself.
But now it appears Trump has changed his mind with the U.S set to boycott the G20 summit.
Responding to Trump, the South African foreign ministry, in a statement kicked against allegations of genocide against white South Africans in the country.
The South African government insisted that the country is fair to all citizens.
The statement reads in part: “The South African government wishes to state, for the record, that the characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical.
“Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution, is not substantiated by fact.”
Since returning to the office in January, Trump has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority, including in May when he confronted his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, in the Oval Office.
The Trump administration has given Afrikaners refugee status, stating a “genocide” is taking place in South Africa. Last week, the White House announced plans to cap refugee admissions at a record low and give priority to white South Africans.
South Africa’s government said the claims of a white genocide are “widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence” and pointed to the “limited uptake” of this offer by South Africans.
The claims were dismissed as “clearly imagined” by a South African court in February.
The G20 was founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis. The nations involved have more than 85% of the world’s wealth, and they aimed to restore economic stability.
The first leaders’ summit was held in 2008 in response to that year’s global financial turmoil, to promote international co-operation.
Recall also that Trump had signed an executive order cutting financial assistance to South Africa over land policies.
The development escalated a diplomatic spat between the U.S and South Africa.
Trump, while signing the executive order, said the U.S is strongly against what he described as the confiscation of lands.
In a statement released by the White House, Trump’s administration added that efforts are underway to formulate a plan to resettle white South African farmers and their families as refugees.
Following the executive order, South Africa is expected to lose millions of dollars. According to the most recent data from the U.S government, South Africa received $ 440 million from the US in 2023.
