South Africa, future of the West 🇿🇦

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2025-01-20-suspected-poacher-killed-by-hippo-in-kruger-national-park/

Some good news🥳

🇺🇸🇿🇦 What does Trump’s likely Africa team say about policy direction?

There is broad consensus among Washington insiders that Trump will tap Peter Pham as his assistant secretary of state for Africa – the top diplomat tasked with running policy for sub-Saharan Africa. Pham, a seasoned scholar on Africa, served twice during the first Trump administration – as Special Envoy for the Great Lakes and then for the Sahel.

In a November 2024 opinion piece about Trump’s likely Africa policy, Pham said Trump expected reciprocity beyond trade. He said one of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) eligibility criteria was that would-be beneficiaries did ‘not engage in activities that undermine United States national security or foreign policy interests.’

Pham said outgoing president Joe Biden’s administration overlooked that with South Africa, ‘the biggest beneficiary of AGOA and several other American programmes, notwithstanding the country’s closeness to Russia, China and Iran, and its role in leading the “genocide” case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.’

Pham noted that all three national security team members nominated by Trump had raised concerns about ‘Pretoria’s positioning itself in the orbit of Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran as well as its antisemitic antics.’ (The three were Senator Marco Rubio – secretary of state, Michael Waltz – national security adviser, and Elise Stefanik – UN ambassador.)

So South Africa’s new US Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool faces a tough task, keeping South Africa in AGOA and in America’s reasonably good books. He has already taken some preemptive action, telling Daily Maverick that South Africa should ‘put away the megaphone’ on Gaza.

Rasool also believes Pretoria and Trump are basically ‘in alignment’ on Russia’s war against Ukraine because both share a ‘healthy disrespect for NATO’ and oppose the Biden administration’s imperative that NATO should ‘surround Russia.’

https://issafrica.org/iss-today/what-does-trump-s-likely-africa-team-say-about-policy-direction