By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
There will be no US delegation at the closing ceremony of the G20 Leaders’ Summit on Sunday despite a last-minute request from Washington to attend the ceremony.
A Group of 20 leaders’ summit in South Africa adopted a declaration addressing the climate crisis and other global challenges on Saturday after it was drafted without US input in a move a White House official called “shameful.”
In opening remarks to the summit, host president Cyil Ramaphosa said: “There’s been overwhelming consensus and agreement that one of the other tasks we should undertake right at the beginning is to … adopt our declaration.”
“We should not allow anything to diminish the value, the stature and the impact of the first African G20 presidency,” he said.
Earlier this week, the US formally warned South Africa against pushing for a joint statement at the first G20 held on African soil.
US president Donald Trump said, US officials would not attend the summit because of allegations, widely discredited, that the host country’s Black majority government persecutes its white minority.
Marc Dillard, who became deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Pretoria in August, was put forward as the official to attend a ceremony marking the handover of the G20 presidency.
The presidency on Saturday reiterated its rejection of a US offer to send the US charge d’affaires for the G20 handover.
“The president will not hand over to a junior embassy official the presidency of the G20. It’s a breach of protocol that is not going to be accommodated, “presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said.
“America chose to boycott the summit. That’s their choice, and that’s their prerogative to do so.”
As result the handover of the G20 presidency would take place at DIRCO offices, not at Nasrec.
Minister of International Relations Ronald Lamola said the US will have to collect it from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) offices.
He emphasised that the summit was South Africa’s G20, highlighting that it was an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the African continent.
“No one will steal that spotlight. The African continent has made it,” Lamola said.
South Africa considers the G20 presidency handover a high-level ceremonial event, prompting concern that the US was downgrading its participation by assigning a chargé d’affaires to lead its delegation.