US Suspends Preparations for G20 Summit

By Staff, Agencies

The White House National Security Council has instructed US American federal agencies to suspend their preparations for the G20 summit in Johannesburg, as US President Donald Trump continues to accuse South Africa of “genocide,” The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Citing two people familiar with the matter, WaPo said the move aligns with Trump’s earlier threat to boycott the November meeting over what he called a campaign of persecution 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 forced redistribution scheme is aimed at addressing the imbalance in 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 expropriation law and indicated last month that he was not planning to attend the annual G20 meeting.

South African 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 arrived in the US seeking asylum. Trump has promised to provide safe haven for them and expedite the naturalization process.