{"id":838766,"date":"2025-04-03T16:12:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T21:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/trump-administration-says-south-african-ambassador-has-to-leave-the-us-by-friday\/"},"modified":"2025-04-03T16:12:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T21:12:19","slug":"trump-administration-says-south-african-ambassador-has-to-leave-the-us-by-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/trump-administration-says-south-african-ambassador-has-to-leave-the-us-by-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration says South African ambassador has to leave the US by Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The State Department says South Africa\u2019s ambassador to the United States, who was declared \u201cpersona non grata\u201d last week<\/a>, has until Friday to leave the country.<\/p>\n

After Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was no longer welcome<\/a> in the U.S. and posted his decision Friday on social media, South African embassy staff were summoned to the State Department and given a formal diplomatic note explaining the decision, department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.<\/p>\n

She said Rasool\u2019s diplomatic privileges and immunities expired Monday and that he would be required to leave the United States by Friday.<\/p>\n

South African Foreign Ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said in a television interview on Monday that Rasool was still in the U.S. but would be leaving as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Rubio announced his decision in a post on X<\/a> as he was flying back to the United States from a Group of 7 foreign ministers meeting<\/a> in Canada. In it, he accused Rasool of being a \u201crace-baiting politician\u201d who hates President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

His post linked to a story by the conservative Breitbart news site about a talk Rasool gave earlier Friday in Johannesburg as part of a South African think tank\u2019s webinar. Rasool, speaking by videoconference, talked about actions taken by the Trump administration in the context of a United States where white people soon would no longer be in the majority.<\/p>\n

It is highly unusual for the U.S. to expel a foreign ambassador, although lower-ranking diplomats are more frequently targeted with persona non grata status.<\/p>\n

Rubio’s decision was the latest Trump administration move targeting South Africa. Trump signed an executive order<\/a> last month halting funding to the country. It criticized the Black-led South African government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-white policies at home and supporting \u201cbad actors\u201d in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas<\/a> and Iran.<\/p>\n

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters on Monday that Rasool would give him a report when he returned home.<\/p>\n

Ramaphosa said his government has \u201cnoted the displeasure that has been expressed by the United States,\u201d and particularly about Rasool’s remarks, but stressed that he believed South Africa was in the process of rebuilding its relationship with the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a hiccup, a hiccup we are working on straightening out,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will engage with the United States of America in a formal way,” Ramaphosa said. “We will do so with deep respect for them and for President Trump as well. Our relationship with the United States is going to be put on an even keel, so I would like the people of South Africa not to have sleepless nights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruce said the United States expects a certain level of respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a decent level of diplomacy with South Africa. There are some challenges, but you want people in each embassy who can actually facilitate a relationship,\u201d she told reporters on Monday. \u201cAnd these remarks were unacceptable to the United States, not just to the president, but to every American.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said South Africa intended to raise questions with the U.S. over Rubio seemingly announcing on social media that Rasool was no longer welcome in the U.S. before informing him of the decision.<\/p>\n

Phiri said South Africa believed such matters should first be discussed through diplomatic channels. \u201cBut this is the reality that we also have to contend with with this administration. That it does seem as though Twitter (X) is the preferred mode of communication,\u201d the spokesman said in an interview on the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation.<\/p>\n

Bruce said the meeting with South African embassy staff was on Friday. Rubio’s post went out at 4:42 p.m. on Friday.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Zonia Mischke
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The State Department says South Africa\u2019s ambassador to the United States, who was declared \u201cpersona non grata\u201d last week, has until Friday to leave the country. After Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was no longer welcome in the U.S. and posted his decision Friday on social media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":838767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1128,4],"tags":[5888,5052],"class_list":{"0":"post-838766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-administration","8":"category-trump","9":"tag-administration","10":"tag-trump"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}