The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ghana's president speaks out on Trump comments
He calls the word choice ‘extremely unfortunate.’
Donald African Haiti “shithole Two and days nations, Trump countries” El after Salvador, described along President whose with as inhabitants able United as States, immigrants were the not president to desir- the of used Ghana by the called American the language leader “extremely said that his unfortunate” nation was and not a “shithole country.”
Nana Akufo-Addo, who assumed the presidency last January, made the comments on his Twitter account Saturday.
"We will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country, no matter how powerful," Akufo-Addo's tweet also said. In his own tweet posted Friday, Trump had appeared to deny using the term "shithole" during a private White House meeting Thurs-day. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the lone Democrat present in the Oval Office at the time, said Trump's denial was false and the president had said things that were "hate-filled, vile and racist."
Akufo-Addo is at least the second head of state or gov-en anent in an insulted coun-try to publicly respond to Trump. Macky Sall, presi-dent of Senegal, tweeted Fri-day that he was "shocked" by Trump's words, adding that "Africa and the black race deserve the respect and consideration of all"
The U.S. government has faced a sustained diplomatic backlash during the past few days because of the com-ments, as well as widespread criticism from civil society. The government of Botswana issued a statement Friday, condemning the remarks, calling them "irresponsible, reprehensible and racist," and urging other nations to take a stand against Trump's remarks.
A group of African ambas-sadors at the United Nations also issued a statement Fri-day that condemned the "outrageous, racist and xenophobic" remarks by the president.
Samantha Power, a for-mer U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrote on Twitter that she had "never seen a statement like this by African countries directed at the United Nations."
Akufo-Addo's predecessor, John Dramani Mahama, also criticized Trump's com-ments in a tweet Saturday. In his message, Mahama referred to a speech made by Trump to African lead-ers at the United Nations in September in which he had praised their nations — but also mistakenly referred to a nonexistent country called "Nambia." Mahama's tweet used an altered image of an Oval Office meeting featur-ing Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to mock that mistake.
In an earlier tweet, Mahama had said that Trump's comments showed he was "nothing but a racist."
Ghana, located in West Africa, is one of the region's most politically stable coun-tries, and it has long enjoyed friendly relations with the United States — according to a Pew poll from 2015, 89 percent of the country said they had a favorable view of America, though that num-ber dropped to 59 percent when the same poll was con-ducted in 2017.
Robert Jackson, the current U.S. ambassador to Ghana, told Ghanaian reporters last year the election of Trump would not change the relation-ship between the United States and African nations. "Our African policies have changed very little of last several decades. I expect that our assistance pro-grammes would continue pretty much as they are," Jackson told Joy News.