


President Donald Trump is meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as tensions between the countries flare up over the former’s claims of genocidal actions against the country’s white minority.
The meeting will begin at 11:30 a.m. Elon Musk, a native South African, will participate.
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Tensions have been high between Trump and Ramaphosa since the president signed the Feb. 7 executive order titled “Addressing the egregious actions of the Republic of South Africa.” In it, Trump announced that “the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”
The U.S. welcomed its first batch of Afrikaner refugees last week.
The two will likely discuss South Africa’s Expropriation Act, which allows for the seizure of farm land without compensation if the government determines that doing so is “just and equitable and in the public interest.” The Trump administration has decried the act as persecution against Afrikaners.
Trump alleged a “genocide” was taking place against Afrikaners in a press conference last week, then critiqued the perceived failure of media outlets to cover the issue.
“It’s a genocide that’s taking place, that you people don’t want to write about,” Trump told reporters when asked about the Afrikaner refugee program. “But it’s a terrible thing that’s taking place. And farmers are being killed.”
TRUMP TO ADDRESS REFUGEE TENSIONS IN MEETING WITH SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT
“They happen to be white, but whether they’re white or black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa, and the newspapers and the media, television media, doesn’t even talk about it. If it were the other way around, they talk about it, that would be the only story they talk about,” he added.
Attacks against white Afrikaner farmers are a highly controversial issue. The government doesn’t keep statistics regarding the number of white farmers killed, but news of particularly brutal attacks has enraged many Afrikaners. Attacks on farms are often accompanied by extensive torture, rape, and mutilation.