First group flying to US

[ad_1] The primary group of 49 white South Africans to be granted refugee standing by the US is because of arrive shortly, after leaving Johannesburg on Sunday.

Relations between South Africa and the US have been tense for months, after President Donald Trump stated that members of the nation's Afrikaner minority have been victims of "racial discrimination".

This was dismissed by South Africa's Overseas Minister Ronald Lamola, who stated on Monday "there is no such thing as a persecution of white Afrikaner South Africans", including that police stories debunk President Trump's assertion.

South Africa says that any allegations of persecution wouldn't meet the edge "required underneath home and worldwide refugee regulation".

The BBC has contacted the United Nations refugee company, UNHCR, which confirmed it was not concerned on this resettlement scheme, nor was it requested to participate in any of the screening.

The US has criticised home South African coverage, accusing the federal government of seizing land from white farmers with none compensation - one thing which the southern African nation says has not occurred.

President Trump has additionally highlighted what he has described because the "large-scale killing of farmers" in South Africa.

Certainly one of his closest advisers, South African-born Elon Musk, has beforehand stated there was a "genocide of white folks" in South Africa and accused the federal government of passing "racist possession legal guidelines".

The claims of a genocide of white folks have been broadly discredited.

Figures from the South African police present that in 2024, 44 murders have been recorded on farms and smaller plots of agricultural land, with eight of these killed being farmers.

South Africa doesn't report on crime statistics damaged down by race however a majority of the nation's farmers are white, whereas different folks dwelling on farms, akin to employees, are largely black.

Afrikaner writer Max du Preez advised the BBC's Newsday radio programme that claims of persecution of white South Africans have been a "whole absurdity" and "primarily based on nothing".

He added that South Africans have been "surprised" by the resettlement scheme and that it had extra to do with "inside politics" within the US than South Africa.

Bilateral tensions between the US and South Africa have been strained for a while as President Trump tasked his administration with formulating plans to probably resettle Afrikaners, a bunch with largely Dutch ancestry, within the US.

In March, South Africa's ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled after accusing President Trump of utilizing "white victimhood as a canine whistle", resulting in the US accusing Mr Rasool of "race-baiting".

The US has additionally criticised South Africa for taking an "aggressive" place in opposition to Israel on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ), the place Pretoria has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's authorities of genocide in opposition to folks in Gaza - a declare which the Israelis strongly reject.

The present group of white South African refugees includes 49 folks, who're anticipated to land in Washington DC afterward Monday, earlier than persevering with to Texas.

White South Africans make up 7.3% of the inhabitants, and personal the overwhelming majority of privately held farmland, in accordance with a 2017 authorities report.

President Trump's openness to accepting Afrikaner refugees comes because the US has engaged in a wider crackdown on migrants and asylum seekers from different international locations.