Rubio calls South African ambassador to US 'persona non grata'
Marco Rubio (photo: Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the South African Ambassador is no longer welcome in the US. This follows comments made by Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool about US President Donald Trump, further intensifying the longstanding rivalry between Washington and Pretoria, reports Bloomberg.
Rubio's statement was in response to a Breitbart News article about a lengthy conversation held by Ebrahim Rasool with a think tank in Johannesburg. In particular, Rasul stated that Trump and his Make America Great Again supporters are effectively a "supremacist" movement projecting "white victimhood." The US Secretary of State responded as follows:
"South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA," he wrote.
Bloomberg explains that declaring the diplomat persona non grata means that the Trump administration will cease interactions with him, which could force him to leave the country or prompt the government to recall him.
This diplomatic episode is the latest in the ongoing racial tensions between the two countries, partially triggered by Trump's advisor, South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who spread a conspiracy theory about the "genocide" of white farmers in South Africa.
This led to a White House executive order halting US foreign aid to South Africa and an announcement that the US refugee system would prioritize Afrikaners - "victims of unjust racial discrimination."
Bloomberg reminds that ties between Washington and one of Africa's largest economies had already been strained after South Africa filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel, America's main ally, of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The diplomatic rift was further fueled by the African nation's connections with Russia, Iran, and China.
In comments made during a lengthy conversation with the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, published on Friday, Rasul referred to US Vice President JD Vance's meeting with an extreme-right German politician and Elon Musk's intervention in British politics. He stated that Trump is "mobilizing advantage against the current government" both domestically and internationally.
A month ago, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to attend the G20 summit held in South Africa on February 20-21, citing the South African government's policies, as it currently holds the presidency of the organization.
