Donald Trump has said the US will not attend the G20 summit in South Africa over widely discredited claims that white people are being persecuted in the country.
The US president said it was a total disgrace that South Africa is hosting the meeting, where leaders from the world's largest economies will gather in Johannesburg later this month.
South Africa's foreign ministry described the decision by the White House as regrettable.
None of South Africa's political parties - including those that represent Afrikaners and the white community in general - have claimed that there is a genocide in South Africa.
Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social: It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa. Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. No US government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue.
Earlier, he had suggested sending Vice President JD Vance instead of attending himself, but now the White House states that no US official will be participating.
The South African foreign ministry stated: The South African government wishes to state, for the record, that the characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical. Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution, is not substantiated by fact.
Since returning to office, Trump has accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority, including confrontations with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Trump administration has controversially granted Afrikaners refugee status, alleging that a genocide is occurring in South Africa. However, these claims have been labeled as widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence by South African officials.
The G20 summit, founded in 1999, includes nations representing over 85% of the world's wealth, aimed at restoring global economic stability and promoting international cooperation.
