米から追放の南ア大使が帰国　トランプ政権対応に「悔いなし」

【ケープタウンＡＦＰ＝時事】トランプ米政権批判を理由に国外退去させられた南アフリカのエブラヒム・ラスール駐米大使が２３日に帰国し、支持者から熱烈な歓迎を受けた。（写真は、南アフリカのケープタウン国際空港に到着したエブラヒム・ラソール駐米大使）
　ドナルド・トランプ大統領は、自らが「反白人的」だと批判する南アの新たな土地収用法や、イスラエルがパレスチナ自治区ガザ地区で「ジェノサイド（集団殺害）」を行っているとして南アが国際司法裁判所（ＩＣＪ）に提訴したことなどを理由に、２月に対南ア支援を停止した。
　ラスール氏も、トランプ氏を嫌う人種差別的な政治家だと非難され、米国を追放された。
　ラスール氏はこの日、ケープタウン国際空港で、与党・アフリカ民族会議（ＡＮＣ）の支持者を中心とする数百人に歓声と拍手で迎えられ、「帰国はわれわれの選択ではなかったが、後悔はない」と言明した。
　また「南アフリカで白人が虐殺されているといったうそを打ち消したと皆さんに報告できていれば、帰国時にこうした歓迎を受けたかったが、米国では成功しなかった」と語った。
　若い頃に反アパルトヘイト運動に参加していたラスール氏は、「米国との従来のやり方は通用しない」ことを国民に警告する意図があったと述べた。
　「私の発言が（米国の）大統領と国務長官の注意を引き、私をペルソナ・ノン・グラータ（好ましからざる人物）に指定するほど彼らを動かしたという事実は、メッセージが最高位に届いたことを示している」と付け加えた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/03/24-17:07）

The South African ambassador who was expelled from the United States in a row with President Donald Trump's government arrived home on Sunday to a raucous welcome and struck a defiant tone over the decision.
Ties between Washington and Pretoria have slumped since Trump cut financial aid to South Africa over what he alleges is its anti-white land policy, its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other foreign policy clashes.
It was not our choice to come home, but we come home with no regrets, expelled ambassador Ebrahim Rasool said in Cape Town after he was ousted from Washington on accusations of being a race-baiting politician who hates Trump.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week Rasool was expelled after he described Trump's Make America Great Again movement as a supremacist reaction to diversity in the United States.
Rasool was greeted with cheers and applause from hundreds of placard-waving supporters mostly clad in the green and yellow of the ruling African National Congress party at Cape Town International Airport.
I want to say that we would have liked to come back with a welcome like this if we could report to you that we had turned away the lies of a white genocide in South Africa, but we did not succeed in America with that, he said with a megaphone after a more than 30-hour trip via Qatari capital Doha.
The former anti-apartheid campaigner defended his remarks about Trump's policies, saying he had intended to analyse a political phenomenon and warn South Africans that the old way of doing business with the US was not going to work.
Our language must change not only to transactionality but also a language that can penetrate a group that has clearly identified a fringe white community in South Africa as their constituency, he said.
The fact that what I said caught the attention of the president and the secretary of state and moved them enough to declare me persona non grata says that the message went to the highest office, he added.
- 'Badge of dignity' -
South Africa, the current president of the Group of 20 leading economies, this week said it considered improving its relationship with the United States a priority.
The United States is South Africa's second-biggest trading partner and will take over the rotating G20 presidency next year.
Rasool is due to provide a report to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.
Pretoria should nonetheless not try to mend its ties with Washington without sacrificing our values, Rasool said.
The declaration of persona non grata is meant to humiliate you, but when you return to a crowd like this... I will wear my persona non grata as a badge of dignity, our values and that we have done the right thing, he said.
Trump froze US aid to South Africa in February, citing a law in the country that he alleges allows land to be seized from white farmers.
Relations have also been strained by South Africa's case against US ally Israel at the ICJ. Pretoria alleges Israel has committed genocidal acts against the Palestinians in its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Trump further heightened tensions this month, saying South Africa's farmers were welcome to settle in the United States after repeating his accusations -- without providing evidence -- that the government was confiscating land from white people.
Trump's ally Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa under apartheid, has also accused Ramaphosa's government of having openly racist ownership laws.
Ramaphosa said South Africa would seek to engage with the United States by dispatching envoys from the business community and government.