Worsening Tensions Expected Between the United States and South Africa
U.S. President Donald Trump is facing controversy over fairness after accepting white refugees from South Africa.
According to the New York Times (NYT) on May 11 (local time), a U.S. government-chartered flight carrying 49 Afrikaners (descendants of 17th-century Dutch settlers in South Africa) departed from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, that day.
President Trump has effectively halted the entry of refugees fleeing famine and war from other African countries such as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, he has provided a fast-track entry route for South African Afrikaners.
In the past, the white regime in South Africa enforced apartheid (a policy of racial segregation), but the Afrikaners, who are their descendants, now claim they face persecution due to reverse discrimination against whites. Shortly after taking office, in February of this year, President Trump issued an executive order suspending aid to South Africa and granting refugee status to these individuals. According to the U.S. State Department, more than 8,000 inquiries about refugee status were made by March.
Typically, the process of obtaining refugee status takes several years. However, just three months after President Trump signed the executive order granting refugee status to Afrikaners, the first group of refugees was headed to the United States.
In response, human rights organizations and immigrant rights activists criticized the Trump administration, arguing that it is mocking refugee policies originally designed to help the vulnerable. Some Afrikaner activists in South Africa said President Trump should have supported them in building better lives in their home country.
Perhaps aware of such criticism, the Afrikaners departed quietly that day. Citing a U.S. embassy ban on media contact, they refused to answer reporters' questions, and local police prevented journalists from covering the event.
The NYT reported that this acceptance of refugees by the United States is likely to further intensify tensions between South Africa and the United States.
President Trump described South Africa as an "anti-American country," citing its close ties with Iran and its decision to bring Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the Gaza war. He also criticized South Africa's introduction of a bill to expropriate private land without compensation for redistribution as "racially discriminatory land seizure."
The South African government introduced the land expropriation law to address the issue of land reform, which has failed since the abolition of apartheid, resulting in the white minority?only 7% of the population?owning half of the farmland. Although uncompensated expropriation is subject to strict legal review, most Afrikaners, who are predominantly farmers, fear losing their land.
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