No United States government official will attend the event in Johannesburg \u2018as long as these human rights abuses continue\u2019, the president said.<\/b>
\nUnited States President Donald Trump on Friday said that Washington will boycott the Group of 20 summit in South Africa, citing the country\u2019s alleged persecution of white farmers.
\u201cIt is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,\u201d he said on social media. \u201cAfrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated.\u201d
He added: \u201cNo US government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida!\u201d
The G20 is an international forum of major economies. It comprises 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union. The annual summit of the members\u2019 heads of states will be held in Johannesburg on November 22 and November 23.
Trump had earlier announced that he would not attend the Johannesburg summit, the Associated Press reported. Vice President JD Vance was expected to attend in his place. However, an unidentified official told the news agency that Vance will also not be attending the meeting.
Trump\u2019s announcement came amid diplomatic tensions between Washington and Pretoria.
In February, Washington suspended aid to South Africa, citing a South African law that Trump alleges allows land of white farmers to be seized.
On March 7, Trump repeated his allegations that Pretoria was \u201cconfiscating\u201d land from white persons and said that South African farmers would be provided a \u201crapid pathway to citizenship\u201d in the US.
A week later, Washington expelled the South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, accusing him of being a \u201crace-baiting politician who hates America\u201d and the US president. The administration did not explain what had triggered the decision against Rasool.
The South African government has repeatedly insisted that white South Africans do not face persecution.
Land ownership is a contentious matter in South Africa. A significant portion of private farmland is still owned by white families more than three decades after the end of apartheid. Pretoria is under pressure to implement reforms.
The president\u2019s announcement on Friday came days after the US administration on October 30 said that it was limiting the number of refugees it would accept annually to a record low of 7,500, with white South Africans being given priority.
The refugee admissions will primarily be allocated to Afrikaners and \u201cother victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands\u201d, according to a White House memo.
Trump, after assuming office for his second term in January, has effectively paused refugee admissions and tightened immigration regulations. In some cases, the US government has used military aircraft to repatriate undocumented migrants, including Indians.
However, the administration made an exception for white South Africans to enter as refugees. The first group of about 50 white South Africans arrived in the US in May.
Also read: Afrikaner \u2018refugees\u2019 are opportunists helping bolster Trump\u2019s \u2018white genocide\u2019 claims<\/p>\n