AFRICAN NATIONS OUTRAGED OVER TRUMP REMARKS
▶ Profane attack on immigrants leads to barrage of criticism and scorn from US allies across the continent
African nations have reacted angrily after Donald Trump used foul language to denigrate them as inferior, and many accused the US president of racism and ignorance.
Condemnation of Mr Trump’s remark continued yesterday when the president of Ghana, which has close ties to the US, described it as “extremely unfortunate”.
“We will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country, no matter how powerful,” president Nana Akufo-Addo tweeted.
His criticism follows a statement from the 55-nation African Union on Friday that described Mr Trump’s words as racist and a demand from African ambassadors at the UN for a retraction and apology.
The African Group of UN ambassadors said it was “extremely appalled at, and strongly condemns the outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks by the president of the United States as widely reported by the media”.
Ambassadors unanimously agreed to the resolution after an emergency session to discuss Mr Trump’s remarks.
The comment was “clearly” racist, said Ebba Kalondo, spokeswoman for African Union chief Moussa Faki.
“This is even more hurtful given the historical reality of just how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves, and also terribly surprising as the United States remains a massively positive example as just how migration can give birth to a nation,” Ms Kalondo said.
She stressed that the US was “much stronger than the sum total of one man”.
Ghana’s former president John Dramani Mahama, whom Mr Akufo-Addo defeated in elections a month after Mr Trump’s win at the polls, wrote: “Thought they said he was so impressed with us just last September?”
Mr Mahama tweeted under an image of Mr Trump being shown a map of Africa in which all the countries were labelled “Nambia”.
The US president was widely derided last year after twice referring to Namibia as “Nambia” at a September meeting of the UN General Assembly.
Namibia said that the president’s language had “no place in diplomatic discourse” and was “contrary to the norms of civility and human progress”.
Mr Trump reportedly demanded to know why the United States should accept immigrants from certain countries after legislators raised the issue of protection for immigrants from African nations, Haiti and El Salvador.
He later tweeted that he did not use the language quoted but privately defended his remarks, a source told Associated Press.
Mr Trump said on Friday that he was only expressing what many people thought but would not say about immigrants from economically depressed countries, the source said.
The president spent Thursday evening making calls to friends and outside advisers to ask them for their reaction to the tempest.
The confidant said that Mr Trump was not apologetic about his inflammatory remarks and denied he was racist, instead blaming the media for distorting his meaning.
The UN called the remarks “shocking and shameful” and “racist”.
Botswana summoned the US ambassador to the country to clarify if it was regarded as such a country, the foreign ministry said. It called Mr Trump’s comments “irresponsible, reprehensible and racist”. Senegal followed suit.
Social media users across the continent posted images of modern skylines and beautiful nature from their countries with a hashtag using the profanity used to describe the nations.
Many Africans reminded the US of its historic role in the continent’s woes.
“President Trump, One day, I’ll take you to a … country called Ghana,” Edmond Prime Sarpong wrote on Facebook.
“First stop would be Osu Castle, Elmina Castle and the over 40 forts that detained about 30 million slaves, beaten and shipped out like sardine cans and then I will tell you the history of Africa and why people like you made that a ******** continent.”
In South Africa, the ruling African National Congress party declared “ours is not a ******** country” and described Mr Trump as “extremely offensive”.
War-torn South Sudan weighed in, with president Salva Kiir’s spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, calling the comments “outrageous”.
But in the capital, Juba, businesswoman Jenny Jore, 31, said Mr Trump’s remarks were “on point”.
“It is thanks to our African leaders that we are insulted that way,” she said.
In Senegal’s capital, Dakar, administrator Idrissa Fall said: “We cannot really say that he (Mr Trump) is wrong. African countries, and sometimes our leaders, do not exactly deal with the problems of the worstoff, that’s what makes people immigrate”.
Mr Trump’s latest comments provided ample fodder for talkshow hosts.
South African comedian Trevor Noah, star of America’s The
Daily Show, described himself as an offended citizen of South ******** and also criticised Mr Trump’s preferred choice of Norway for immigrants.
“He didn’t just name a white country, he named the whitest – so white they wear moonscreen,” Noah said.
He didn’t just name a white country [Norway], he named the whitest – so white they wear moon-screen TREVOR NOAH Comedian, The Daily Show