Trump meets Ramaphosa, presses him on unfounded ‘white genocide’ claims in tense White Home assembly

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at Whit Home and stated he was searching for an evidence from the South African President concerning unfounded allegations of “genocide” focusing on white Afrikaners.

“Usually, they’re white farmers, they usually’re fleeing South Africa, and it’s a really unhappy factor to see. However I hope we will have an evidence of that, as a result of I do know you don’t need that,” Trump stated.

Ramaphosa, nevertheless, disputed President Trump’s declare throughout their assembly within the Oval Workplace.

“If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can guess you these three gents wouldn’t be right here, together with my minister of agriculture, he wouldn’t be with me,” CNN quoted Ramaphosa as saying, referring to White members of his delegation, which included South African golfers, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els, and his nation’s agriculture minister, John Henry Steenhuisen.

Ramaphosa urged Trump to “(pay attention) to their tales, to their perspective.”

Instantly afterward, Ramaphosa sat in uneasy silence as Trump directed his aides to play a brief documentary composed of varied video clips, together with footage of South African politician Julius Malema.

Trump then remarked that the movies confirmed aerial footage of white crosses marking the graves of murdered white farmers.

Ramaphosa responded by saying he had by no means seen such photos earlier than.

“I’d wish to know the place that’s as a result of this I’ve by no means seen,” The Guardian quoted him as saying.

Trump admitted he wasn’t positive what he anticipated Ramaphosa to do in regards to the footage that they had simply watched.

He then held up printed information articles about white farmers he claimed had been not too long ago killed, saying as he flipped by way of them: “Dying, dying.”

Ramaphosa clarified that what that they had simply seen didn’t mirror official authorities coverage.

“Our authorities coverage is totally towards what (Trump was describing),” The Guardian quoted Trump as saying.

“There may be criminality in our nation … individuals who do get killed aren’t solely white,” he added.

Ramaphosa then tried to get the Oval Workplace assembly again on monitor, saying, “I’m sorry I don’t have a aircraft to present you.”

He stated he’s keen to speak to Trump about these points that concern him.

“You’re a accomplice of South Africa, and also you’re elevating issues – these are issues we’re keen to speak about,” he added.

In latest months, Trump and several other members of his administration, together with South Africa-born adviser Elon Musk, has criticised South Africa’s land reform legislation, which seeks to deal with the injustices of apartheid, in addition to its court docket case towards Israel concerning genocide.

Trump has taken a number of actions, together with canceling support, expelling South Africa’s ambassador, and providing refuge to white Afrikaners, primarily based on racial discrimination claims that Pretoria insists are unfounded.

Trump has accused South Africa of seizing land from white farmers and stoking violence towards white landowners by way of “hateful rhetoric and authorities actions”, a declare he reiterated in immediately’s Oval Workplace assembly.

In response, Pretoria has argued that these claims are inaccurate and fail to acknowledge South Africa’s painful historical past, which incorporates the lengthy interval of white colonial domination underneath the apartheid system.

Right now’s assembly carries vital weight for South Africa, as the US is its second-largest buying and selling accomplice after China. The help reduce has already led to a decline in HIV affected person testing.

With inputs from businesses