Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
Windhoek-Namibia has joined Botswana, Ghana, and the African Union in condemning the remark of US President Donald Trump in which he is reported to have referred to African states as ‘sh**hole countries’.
Trump is reported to have directed the remark to third world countries Haiti, El Salvador and others,
while discussing immigration issues with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House on Thursday last week.
Trump denied making such remark, although several attendees of the meeting confirmed to have heard him make it.
Permanent secretary in the Namibian Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, says the country has learned with disgust and reprehension about the remark.
Ashipala-Musavyi said such language has no place in diplomatic discourse and is contrary to the norms of civility and human progress.
She further said Trump’s language does not contribute to international cooperation.
“Namibia commends those American people who have disassociated themselves with these derogatory remarks,” she said in a statement issued Saturday.
“The Africa we know and live in is one that is recovering economically and rising.”
“The USA we know is one that was built with the blood and sweat of African slaves and immigrants from all over,” she added.
Ashipala-Musavyi says Namibia, while associating itself with the tweeted Africa Union (AU) official statement, condemns such utterances and calls on the international community to reject racism in all forms.
Meanwhile, the Botswana government in a statement on Friday said it has summoned the US ambassador in that country to express its displeasure over what it termed “derogatory” and “racial” remarks by the US leader.
The Botswana government called Trump’s comments highly irresponsible, considering that the US and Botswana enjoyed cordial and mutually beneficial relations, and called on SADC and the AU and other nations to strongly condemn Trump’s remark.
Also, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo on Friday said Trump’s reported description of African nations as sh**thole countries was unacceptable, while his predecessor, John Mahama, branded the US head of state a racist.
Akufo-Addo tweeted that Trump’s reported language was “extremely unfortunate”, adding: “We are certainly not ‘a sh**hole country’.”
“We will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country, no matter how powerful,” the Ghanaian president reportedly said.
The AU, representing all 55 nations in the continent, on Friday demanded that Trump apologises for his alleged remark.
In a blistering statement, the union’s diplomatic mission in Washington also accused Trump of dishonouring America by supposedly using foul language to describe Haiti, El Salvador and unspecified African nations during a discussion about immigration.
The Washington Mission of the African Union said the US president did not just need to apologise to Africans, he should be saying sorry to all people of African descent, all over the world.