Trump, South Africa’s President Spar Over ‘Genocide’ Claims

President Ramaphosa of South Africa on Wednesday heard an earful from President Trump at the White House, including accusations that genocide is taking place in his country. Will he, like President Zelensky, attempt to repair relations by giving America access to his country’s minerals and other business opportunities?Mr. Trump did not go so far as to outright accuse South Africa of committing genocide against its white farmers, and Mr. Ramaphosa said that calls for killing all whites in the country come from a small minority and do not represent government policies. Pretoria, though, is leading a drive at the International Court of Justice in accusing Israel of committing genocide. The evidence Mr. Ramaphosa’s government uses at the Hague seems thinner than that Mr. Trump presented at the White House on Wednesday in condemning South Africa. Aware that White House press conferences can turn into confrontational attacks on guests, Mr. Ramaphosa was accompanied by some heavyweight compatriots, including a golf great, Ernie Els, a business tycoon, Johann Rupert, and members of his government. The guest’s calm demeanor and sense of humor seemed to help, too. “I am sorry I don’t have a plane to give you,” Mr. Ramaphosa quipped at one point, after a reporter asked about Qatar’s offer to the president. Instead, he tried to present Mr. Trump with gifts he hoped would undo White House accusations that his government drives policies that persecute white farmers. “We’ve got critical minerals that you want, to fuel the growth of your own economy and reindustrialize,” the South African guest said. A dramatic confrontation overshadowed such talk. It started when Mr. Rampahosa, a leader of the African National Congress party, was asked what it would take to convince the president that there is no genocide in South Africa. Pointing to members of his entourage, he said, “It will take him, President Trump, listening to their stories, to their perspective.”Mr. Ramaphosa seemed prepared for a confrontation, as did Mr. Trump. He asked to dim the lights in the room and turned attention to a screen where a videotape showed clips of South African activists calling for the killing of white farmers, and of funerals of murdered victims. Mr. Trump then handed his guest a stack of newspaper clippings highlighting deadly attacks on small farms owned by white owners.Washington has given asylum to some of these farmers. “We have hundreds of people, thousands of people, trying to come into our country because they feel they’re going to be killed and their land is going to be confiscated,” Mr. Trump told his guest. “And you do have laws that were passed that give you the right to confiscate land for no payment.”Pretoria’s agricultural minister, John Steenhuisen, who is white, acknowledged that the country has a “rural safety problem,” and asked for help in police equipment for enforcement.A leader of a long-time opposition party, Mr. Steenhuisen also accused the previous ANC-led government of exacerbating the problem. “And that is why after 50 years of us exchanging barbs across the floor in parliament and trying to get one over on each other, we’ve decided to join hands, precisely to keep that lot out of government,” he said.Mr. Ramaphosa and some in his entourage harked back to South Africa’s apartheid past. “There was a lot of anger, you know, through the transition, there was always a lot of stuff happening in apartheid days,” Mr. Els, a long-time friend of Mr. Trump, said. “We grew up in apartheid,” he added, “but I don’t think two wrongs make a right.” Unlike the rancorous February 28 visit by Mr. Zelensky, the Wednesday confrontation did not end in a walkout. Mr. Trump and his guest had lunch together and conducted a private conversation that presumably was more civilized than the session in front of cameras. Mr. Ramaphosa initiated the meeting in a phone call to Mr. Trump, hoping to convince him to reverse a decision to sit out a November meeting of the group of 20 leading economies. The American president and the secretary of state will not participate in the session “due to some of these issues that they put on their agenda and which, as we think, do not reflect the priorities of this administration,” Secretary Rubio said at a Senate hearing Tuesday. Mr. Rampophosa stressed that America founded the G20, and that in November Pretoria is scheduled to hand over to America the leadership of the group. South Africa, he said, needs economic help. At the same time, he noted that his country is rich in minerals and rare earths that America wants.

Trump, South Africa’s President Spar Over ‘Genocide’ Claims

Trump, South Africa’s President Spar Over ‘Genocide’ Claims

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