Africans condemn president’s words

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa and Nigeria have joined a chorus of nations that are condemning President Donald Trump’s inflammatory remarks on immigration.

Africa experts warn that the controversy threatened to set back U.S. interests across the world’s fastest-growing continent.

Since Thursday, when several participants in a meeting with Trump at the White House said he had asked why the United States should take in migrants from “shithole countries,” including Haiti and African nations, the Trump administration has been erratic in its account of what happened.

On Friday, Trump insisted on Twitter that “this was not the language used,” and on Sunday, he told reporters, “I’m not a racist.”

On Monday, Trump insisted that a senator who attended the meeting, Richard Durbin, D-Ill., had “totally misrepresented” his comments.

The State Department, meanwhile, has instructed diplomats not to deny Trump’s remarks, but simply to listen to complaints.

Botswana, Ghana, Haiti, Namibia, Senegal and the African Union have all protested Trump’s remarks.

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s deputy president and the newly elected leader of the African National Congress, called the statement “really, really derogatory” and “hugely offensive.” He said of Trump: “It demonstrates precisely the type of leader he is.”

Reuben E. Brigety II, who was the U.S. ambassador to the African Union from 2013-15, said on Monday that he had been in touch with African ministers and ambassadors throughout the weekend. “The appropriate word to describe their reactions to the president’s comments is fury,” he said.

The United States has many interests in Africa: battling Islamist insurgencies like Boko Haram and al-Shabab; reducing political instability and improving governance, particularly in conflict-torn nations like South Sudan and Somalia; and taking advantage of the dynamism of a rapidly urbanizing continent that is rich in natural resources and has a young and growing population.

“Obviously we have been competing with the Chinese for engagement and influence in Africa,” Brigety said. “It is an understatement to say that the president’s remarks do not help in this regard. To have insulted an entire continent in the most vile terms is manifestly harmful to our interests.”