Cape Town, Jan 16: South Africa and Nigeria have joined a chorus of nations condemning President
Trump’s inflammatory remarks on immigration, as Africa experts warned that the
controversy threatened to set back American interests across the world’s
fastest-growing continent, The New York Times has reported.
Since Thursday, when several participants in a meeting with Mr Trump said he had asked why the United States should take in migrants from “shithole countries,” including Haiti and African nations, the Trump administration has been erratic in its account of what happened.
On Friday, Mr Trump insisted on Twitter that “this was not the language used,” and on Sunday, he told reporters, “I’m not a racist.” On Monday, Mr Trump said that a Democratic senator who attended the meeting, Richard J Durbin, had “totally misrepresented” his comments.
The State Department, meanwhile, has instructed diplomats not to deny Mr Trump’s remarks, but simply to listen to complaints.
Botswana, Ghana, Haiti, Namibia, Senegal and the African Union have all protested Mr Trump’s remarks; Botswana asked the United States “to clarify if Botswana is regarded as a ‘shithole’ country.”
“Africa and the African diaspora has contributed significantly to the United States and to its development into the country that it is today,” Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said on Monday. “The African and international reaction to the alleged statements clearly serve as a united affirmation of the dignity of the people of Africa and the African diaspora.”
Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s deputy president and the newly elected leader of the governing African National Congress, called the statement “really, really derogatory” and “hugely offensive.” He said of Mr Trump, “It demonstrates precisely the type of leader he is.”
Nigeria’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, also summoned American diplomats to explain Mr. Trump’s comments, calling them “deeply hurtful, offensive and unacceptable."
Reuben E Brigety II, who was the United States ambassador to the African Union from 2013 to 2015, said on Monday that he had been in touch with African ministers and ambassadors throughout the weekend.
“The appropriate word to describe their reactions to the president’s comments is fury,” he said, “notwithstanding the fact that the president has said that he didn’t say what was attributed to him. They don’t believe it.”
Mr Brigety said that Mr Trump’s remarks were on the agenda for the annual African Union summit meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this month.
“A red line has been crossed,” he said.
Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, said the protests from Botswana and from the African Union reflected a deep undercurrent of frustration and anger. “Strong statements from other African countries show that the continental body won’t just put up with Trump’s views,” she said.
The United States has many interests in Africa: battling Islamist insurgencies like Boko Haram in West Africa and the Shabab in the Horn of Africa; reducing political instability and improving governance, particularly in conflict-torn nations like South Sudan and Somalia; and taking advantage of the dynamism of a rapidly urbanising continent that is rich in natural resources and has a young and growing population.
“Obviously we have been competing with the Chinese for engagement and influence in Africa,” Mr Brigety said. “It is an understatement to say that the president’s remarks do not help in this regard. To have insulted an entire continent in the most vile terms is manifestly harmful to our interests.”
Patrick Gaspard, the United States ambassador to South Africa from 2013 to 2016, said that progress on trade, public health, security and education, among many areas, had been “thrown into question by the irresponsible and vulgar comments made by the president.”
Mr Trump’s long history of racially insensitive or insulting comments include several that have rankled Africans: Last June, he mused that Nigerians in the United States would not “go back to their huts” in Africa, and he told African leaders in September: “I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich,” a comment that critics said smacked of colonialism.
“There’s clearly profound ignorance here and some profound blind spots,” Mr Gaspard said.
R Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat who was ambassador to NATO and an undersecretary of state for political affairs during George W Bush’s presidency, said the remarks had created real damage.
“Of all the vile, offensive Trump statements, what he said about Haiti and Africa might have been the worst in the eyes of people overseas,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. “It was a cruel, ignorant, blanket indictment of entire countries. The blow to US credibility is real and long-lasting.” UNI
Since Thursday, when several participants in a meeting with Mr Trump said he had asked why the United States should take in migrants from “shithole countries,” including Haiti and African nations, the Trump administration has been erratic in its account of what happened.
On Friday, Mr Trump insisted on Twitter that “this was not the language used,” and on Sunday, he told reporters, “I’m not a racist.” On Monday, Mr Trump said that a Democratic senator who attended the meeting, Richard J Durbin, had “totally misrepresented” his comments.
The State Department, meanwhile, has instructed diplomats not to deny Mr Trump’s remarks, but simply to listen to complaints.
Botswana, Ghana, Haiti, Namibia, Senegal and the African Union have all protested Mr Trump’s remarks; Botswana asked the United States “to clarify if Botswana is regarded as a ‘shithole’ country.”
“Africa and the African diaspora has contributed significantly to the United States and to its development into the country that it is today,” Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said on Monday. “The African and international reaction to the alleged statements clearly serve as a united affirmation of the dignity of the people of Africa and the African diaspora.”
Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s deputy president and the newly elected leader of the governing African National Congress, called the statement “really, really derogatory” and “hugely offensive.” He said of Mr Trump, “It demonstrates precisely the type of leader he is.”
Nigeria’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, also summoned American diplomats to explain Mr. Trump’s comments, calling them “deeply hurtful, offensive and unacceptable."
Reuben E Brigety II, who was the United States ambassador to the African Union from 2013 to 2015, said on Monday that he had been in touch with African ministers and ambassadors throughout the weekend.
“The appropriate word to describe their reactions to the president’s comments is fury,” he said, “notwithstanding the fact that the president has said that he didn’t say what was attributed to him. They don’t believe it.”
Mr Brigety said that Mr Trump’s remarks were on the agenda for the annual African Union summit meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this month.
“A red line has been crossed,” he said.
Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, said the protests from Botswana and from the African Union reflected a deep undercurrent of frustration and anger. “Strong statements from other African countries show that the continental body won’t just put up with Trump’s views,” she said.
The United States has many interests in Africa: battling Islamist insurgencies like Boko Haram in West Africa and the Shabab in the Horn of Africa; reducing political instability and improving governance, particularly in conflict-torn nations like South Sudan and Somalia; and taking advantage of the dynamism of a rapidly urbanising continent that is rich in natural resources and has a young and growing population.
“Obviously we have been competing with the Chinese for engagement and influence in Africa,” Mr Brigety said. “It is an understatement to say that the president’s remarks do not help in this regard. To have insulted an entire continent in the most vile terms is manifestly harmful to our interests.”
Patrick Gaspard, the United States ambassador to South Africa from 2013 to 2016, said that progress on trade, public health, security and education, among many areas, had been “thrown into question by the irresponsible and vulgar comments made by the president.”
Mr Trump’s long history of racially insensitive or insulting comments include several that have rankled Africans: Last June, he mused that Nigerians in the United States would not “go back to their huts” in Africa, and he told African leaders in September: “I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich,” a comment that critics said smacked of colonialism.
“There’s clearly profound ignorance here and some profound blind spots,” Mr Gaspard said.
R Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat who was ambassador to NATO and an undersecretary of state for political affairs during George W Bush’s presidency, said the remarks had created real damage.
“Of all the vile, offensive Trump statements, what he said about Haiti and Africa might have been the worst in the eyes of people overseas,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. “It was a cruel, ignorant, blanket indictment of entire countries. The blow to US credibility is real and long-lasting.” UNI
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