Africa unites over Trump scandal

A breathtaking sunrise image of Cape Town – Africa’s so-called Mother City – is doing the rounds on social media platforms in response to US President Donald Trump's vulgar comments about the continent. Legalbrief reports that Trump, who once referred to a nonexistent African country called 'Nambia', is facing a global backlash for allegedly telling US lawmakers at the White House that Haiti, El Salvador and nations in Africa were ‘shithole countries’. A report on the News24 site notes that the US State Department is trying to defuse the crisis. A new tweet from the department's Bureau of African Affairs said that ‘the United States will continue to robustly, enthusiastically and forcefully engage in #Africa, promoting this vital relationship, and to listen and build on the trust and views we share with our African partners’.

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The South African Government today (Monday) registered one of the highest forms of diplomatic protest with Washington over the debacle. The Foreign Ministry said that it will deliver a démarche calling on the Chargé d'Affaires of the US Embassy in SA to explain Trump’s comments. A report on the allAfrica site notes that SA's Department of International Relations and Cooperation said ‘Africa is united in its affirmation of the dignity of the people of Africa and the African diaspora’. The AU earlier sharply denounced Trump's reference to African nations and called on him to retract his statement and apologise. ‘The African Union Mission wishes to express its infuriation, disappointment and outrage over the unfortunate comment made by Trump which dishonour the celebrated American creed and respect for diversity and human dignity,’ the AU mission to the US said. CNN reports that it demanded ‘a retraction of the comment as well as an apology, not only to the Africans, but to all people of African descent around the globe’. A report on the EWN site notes that Botswana was the first country to officially complain about Trump's foul-mouthed dismissal of African countries. The Gaborone government called on the regional grouping SADC to condemn what it calls 'Trump's irresponsible, racist and deplorable outburst'.

Full report on the allAfrica site

Full CNN report

Full report on the EWN site

In other developments, an opposition lawmaker in Ghana is calling for a boycott of the US by developing countries until Trump leaves office. A report on the News24 site notes that Ras Mubarak says countries should send a ‘strong message to Trump that the world is united against his kind of politics, which is bigoted, divisive and not healthy’. Mubarak adds that ‘the sooner he is made aware that America needs the world and the world needs America the better it is for all of us'.

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