Latest news with #SAfrican
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'It's not fair': Other refugees in limbo as US welcomes white South Africans
A man slept outside in a car park overnight in Kenya with his wife and infant son in January, consumed by confusion and disbelief. The family, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had been expecting a flight to the US for resettlement in just hours' time. But after US President Donald Trump suspended the US refugee programme just two days before the family's scheduled departure, the man was told their flight to America was abruptly cancelled – less than 24 hours before take-off. "I didn't have anywhere else to go," the man, who asked to go by the name of Pacito to protect his identity, told the BBC. He had already moved his family from their home, sold his furniture and most of their belongings, and prepared for a new life in America. They remain in Kenya, which is a safer prospect than the DRC, where they fled conflict. They represent just three of the roughly 120,000 refugees who had been conditionally approved to enter the US, but who now wait in limbo due to the refugee pause. Trump's move signalled a major change in the approach that was followed by successive US leaders. Under former President Joe Biden, over 100,000 refugees came to the US in 2024 - the highest annual figure in nearly three decades. Since entering office in January, Trump has moved quickly to deliver on his campaign promise of an "America first" agenda that has involved dramatically restricting routes by which migrants can come to the US. The effort has also included an ambitious deportation programme under which people have been deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador against a judge's orders, as well as revoking visas from over a thousand university students, and offering illegal immigrants a sum of $1,000 each to "self-deport". The White House has defended its actions by suggesting that many of those being forced from the country are either violent criminals or threaten America's interests. But exceptions to the policies have been made for a select few. The president signed an executive order in February that opened the refugee pathway exclusively to Afrikaners - white South Africans who he claimed were victims of "racial discrimination". A plane carrying 59 of them landed at an airport just outside Washington DC earlier this month, in a ceremonious greeting that included the deputy secretary of state. "It's not fair," Pacito commented. "There are 120,000 refugees who went through the whole process, the vetting, the security, the medical screenings. We've waited for years, but now these (Afrikaners) are just processed in like three months." The situation has left Pacito feeling stuck. Since he has sold all of the equipment that he needed to work in his field of music production, for the past few months he has struggled to find odd jobs to earn money for his family. "It's kind of hard," he said. Trump ambushes S African leader with claim of Afrikaners being 'persecuted' Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims? 'I didn't come here for fun' - Afrikaner defends refugee status in US Trump has further justified his decision to accept Afrikaners as refugees in the US because he says they face "a genocide" - a message that has been echoed by Elon Musk, his South African-born close ally. Such claims have circulated for years, though are widely discredited, and have been denied by South Africa. However, the call has taken on new animus – particularly among right-wing groups in the US – ever since a law was passed in South Africa in January that allowed the government to seize land from white landowners "when it is just and equitable and in the public interest". The post-apartheid-era law was meant to address frustrations around South Africa's disproportionate land ownership; the country's white population is roughly 7% but owns roughly 72% of farmland. Though South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said no land has been taken under the new law, days after it was passed, Trump ordered the US to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the country. A diplomatic feud followed. The fraying relationship was laid bare on Wednesday during a tense White House meeting between the pair. Trump ambushed Ramaphosa on live TV with claims of white "persecution" - an allegation Ramaphosa emphatically rejected. Analysts have described the broader foreign policy of Trump's second term as isolationist, with numerous moves made to cut foreign aid and to disentangle the US from foreign conflicts, in addition to reducing immigration. Trump has also terminated tens of billions of dollars in global aid contracts - including funds that supported lifesaving HIV/Aids programmes in South Africa. He has justified the cuts by saying his team identified fraud within the aid spending. The moves appear in stark contrast to the White House's decision to fast-track the arrival of white South Africans - a fact that has been critiqued by refugee advocacy groups. "Every case of protection should be based on credible evidence of persecution, and the central question here is about fairness and equal treatment under the law," Timothy Young from the non-profit organisation Global Refuge told the BBC. "So if one group can access humanitarian pathways, then so should Afghan allies, persecuted religious minorities and the thousands of other families who face serious threats and who meet the legal criteria for refugee status," Mr Young said. How a US freeze upended global aid in a matter of days Trump to end protected status for Afghans Among its other moves, the Trump administration has chosen not to renew the temporary protected status for Afghans in the US, saying "Afghanistan has had an improved security situation" and a "stabilising economy". They now face deportation. South Africa does not release crime figures based on race, but the latest figures revealed that 6,953 people were murdered in the country between October and December 2024. Of these, 12 were killed in farm attacks. Of the 12, one was a farmer, usually white, while five were farm dwellers and four were employees, who were likely to have been black. Meanwhile, in the DRC, thousands of civilians have been killed by armed militias in recent years, and nearly 100,000 more displaced, according to UN figures. Pacito fled the DRC on foot in 2016, recalling "guns everywhere I looked" at the time, and "no peace". He said family members of his wife had been killed. Among the others who see the US as an increasingly unlikely place to resettle as refugees is the Hammad family, who are from Gaza but are now living in Egypt. "After what happened with Trump, I think it will be impossible," Amjad Hammad told the BBC. He and his family had applied for the US's green card lottery in 2024 but found out in May they had been denied. He expressed confusion about Trump's concern for the plight of white South Africans over and above other groups. "What are the Palestinians facing, if the people in South Africa are facing a genocide?" he asked. More than 53,000 people have been killed across Gaza since 7 October 2023, when Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas - the Palestinian armed group that launched a cross-border attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. The confusion voiced by Mr Hammad is similar to the views of Pacito, whose hopes of resettling in the US were dashed in January. Since then, he has been left effectively homeless in Nairobi, drifting from place to place to wherever someone will accept him and his family for a few days. "Sometimes we get food. Sometimes we don't," he said. "We've been struggling very badly." The policy changes on the US side give him little hope that he will be accepted by Trump, but the alternative of heading back across Africa to his home country is unimaginable. "I can't go back," he said.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ramaphosa keeps cool during Trump's choreographed onslaught
Three months into Donald Trump's second term, foreign leaders should be aware that a coveted trip to the Oval Office comes with the risk of a very public dressing down, often straying into attempts at provocation and humiliation. Wednesday's episode with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa was a classic of its kind, with the added twist of an ambush involving dimmed lights, a lengthy video screening and stacks of news story clippings. As television cameras rolled, and after some well-tempered discussion, Trump was asked by a journalist about what it would take for him to be convinced that discredited claims of "white genocide" in South Africa are untrue. Ramaphosa responded first, by saying the president would have to "listen to the voices of South Africans" on the issue. Trump then came in, asking an assistant to "turn the lights down" and put the television on, so he could show the South African leader "a couple of things". Elon Musk, his adviser and a South Africa-born billionaire, watched quietly from behind a couch. WATCH: 'Turn the lights down' - Trump confronts Ramaphosa with video ANALYSIS: Ramaphosa survives mauling by Trump over 'white genocide' WHAT HAPPENED: Trump ambushes S African leader with claim of Afrikaners being 'persecuted' What followed was an extraordinary and highly choreographed onslaught of accusations from the US president about the alleged persecution of white South Africans, echoing the aggressive treatment of Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky during his February visit to the White House. The footage on the large screen showcased South African political firebrands chanting "Shoot the Boer", an anti-apartheid song. And Trump, so often critical of the news media, seemed happy to parade pictures of uncertain provenance. Asked where alleged grave sites of white farmers were, he simply answered, "South Africa". The US leader also seemed to believe the political leaders in the footage - who are not part of the government - had the power to confiscate land from white farmers. They do not. While Ramaphosa did sign a controversial bill allowing land seizures without compensation earlier this year, the law has not been implemented. And the South African distanced himself publicly from the language in the political speeches shown. But the top ally of South Africa's Nelson Mandela and negotiator who helped bring an end to the apartheid regime of white-minority rule came to this meeting prepared. Trump sometimes appears unaware of transparent efforts made by foreign leaders to flatter and that was clearly part of the South African strategy. True, Donald Trump is a golf fanatic, but Ramaphosa's gambit of bringing two top golfers – Ernie Els and Retief Goosen - to a meeting about diplomatic problems and trade policy is not taken from any textbook on international relations I've ever read. However, the US president's pleasure at having the two white South African golfers there was on show for all to see. Their prognostications on the fate of white farmers got nearly as much screen time as South Africa's democratically-elected president, who largely restricted himself to quiet, short interventions. But Ramaphosa will likely be happy with that. The golfers, along with his white agriculture minister, himself from an opposition party which is part of the national unity government, were there, at least in part, as a shield - a kind of diplomatic golden dome if you will, and it worked. Do Afrikaners want to take Trump up on his South African refugee offer? White South Africans going to US are cowards, Ramaphosa says Trump returned repeatedly to the issue of the plight of the farmers – dozens of whom he has welcomed into the US as refugees. But President Ramaphosa wasn't biting and the provocations were largely left to blow in the breeze. At one point, he referred to the golfers and an Afrikaner billionaire who had joined his delegation, telling Trump: "If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you, these three gentleman would not be here." But even though President Trump didn't manage to get a rise out of the South African president, that does not mean his efforts over more than an hour were in vain; they certainly were not. This performative style of diplomacy is aimed as much at the domestic American audience as it is at the latest visitor to the Oval Office. Central to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) project is keeping up the energy around perceived grievances and resentment and President Trump knows what his supporters want. If some foreign leaders are learning to navigate these moments with skill, Donald Trump may have to change the playbook a bit to continue to have the impact he wants. Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims? 'I didn't come here for fun' - Afrikaner defends refugee status in US
Kuwait Times
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
S African men, N Zealand women win Rugby Sevens World Championships in LA
S African men, N Zealand women win Rugby Sevens World Championships in LA Season-ending LA event was staged at Dignity Health Sports Park LOS ANGELES: South Africa's men and New Zealand's women captured the Rugby Sevens World Championship 2025 titles on Sunday in Los Angeles. The Springbok Sevens defeated Spain 19-5 in the men's final while New Zealand's Black Ferns—who had already claimed the sevens series title -- added to their trophy haul with a 31-7 victory over Australia in the women's final. The season-ending LA event was staged at Dignity Health Sports Park, which will host rugby sevens at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The Black Ferns, the reigning Olympic champions, had sealed first place in the women's regular season standings with a victory at Singapore in April. Argentina—which had clinched the men's World Sevens Series standings with victories in Perth, Vancouver and Hong Kong—fell to Spain 29-5 in the semi-finals, where South Africa dispatched New Zealand 31-5. In the men's final, Selvyn Davids scored a try in the fifth minute and Ronald Brown converted to lift South Africa ahead 7-0 at half-time. Spain's Pol Pla answered with a try in the 10th minute but Juan Ramos missed the conversion kick to keep the Springboks ahead. Mfundo Ndhlovu answered with a try for South Africa and Tristan Leyds converted for a 14-5 lead. South Africa's Zander Reynders received a yellow card but Ricardo Duartee added a try in the final minute to complete the triumph. In the women's final, Jorja Miller scored in the second minute for New Zealand and Michaela Brake added another try in the sixth, Risi Pouri-Lane's conversion making it 12-0 at half-time for the Black Ferns. Mackenzie Davis answered with her sixth try of the event for Australia in the eighth minute and Ruby Nicholas added the conversion, but the Kiwis answered on Pouri-Lane's try and conversion in the 10th minute for a 19-7 edge. Mahina Paul added a try in the 11th minute for the Black Ferns with Pouri-Lane converting and Sarah Hirini added a try in the 13th minute to create the final margin. In the women's semi-finals, Australia routed Canada 33-7 and New Zealand ousted the United States 34-7. — AFP
