The White House National Security Council has instructed US federal agencies to suspend preparations for the G20 summit in Johannesburg, as President Donald Trump continues to accuse South Africa of “genocide,” The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Citing two people familiar with the matter, the Post said the move aligns with Trump’s earlier threat to boycott the November meeting over what he called a campaign of prosecution against South Africa’s white minority.
Pretoria has drawn international attention since passing a law in January permitting the expropriation of land without compensation – most of which is currently owned by white farmers. South Africa has insisted that the land reform is aimed at addressing the imbalance in land ownership that remains from the apartheid era.
“White farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa and the newspapers and the media [don’t] even talk about it,” Trump told reporters on Monday. He slammed Pretoria’s recent land reform and indicated last month that he was not planning to attend the annual G20 meeting.
President Cyril Ramaphosa rejected the accusations of genocide as a “completely false narrative.” He said that he would like to meet with Trump to “discuss this matter further.”
On Monday, State Department officials welcomed around 50 members of South Africa’s white minority who are in the US as asylum-seekers. Trump promised to provide safe haven for them and expedite the naturalization process.
