South African authorities detained American officials. Washington condemns the actions

The US State Department on Thursday condemned the detention of American officials in South Africa and accused the country's authorities of trying to intimidate American government personnel.

The ministry wrote in a statement that the United States strongly condemns the recent detention by the South African government of American officials who, as it said, provided humanitarian support to Afrikaners. He added that making the passport information of U.S. officials public was an “unacceptable form of harassment” and accused South African authorities of trying to intimidate U.S. government personnel.

The State Department said the U.S. will not tolerate such behavior toward U.S. government employees or any other U.S. citizen who lawfully and peacefully operates abroad. He threatened South Africa with serious retaliation if the country's government does not take consequences against those responsible for this situation.

As reported by CNN, South African authorities detained and soon released two US government employees who went to South Africa as part of the Donald Trump administration's actions to accept Afrikaner refugees in the US. The station noted that the incident was an escalation of already tense bilateral relations.

As announced by President Donald Trump, Afrikaners will be treated as a priority in the process of granting refugee status in the US. Trump emphasizes that Afrikaners are victims of discrimination in South Africa, which is mostly inhabited by black people. The government in Pretoria denies these accusations.

Trump announced that he would not invite South Africa to next year's G20 summit in the US and accused the country of being “unworthy of membership” in any organization. U.S. representatives were absent from the organization's recent summit in Johannesburg.

From Washington Natalia Dziurdzińska (PAP)

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