France has withdrawn an invitation for South Africa to attend a summit of Group of Seven leaders in June following pressure from the US, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said.
Leaders of the world’s richest nations are scheduled to meet in Évian-les-Bains, in southeastern France, from 15 to 17 June.
“The invitation was withdrawn by the French government due to sustained pressure from the US,” South African presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya said by phone on Thursday.
“That’s the communication we received from the French government.”
A spokesperson for President Emmanuel Macron’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US State Department also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent via its website and by email.
Earlier, an official in Macron’s office said that South Africa wasn’t invited to the G-7 because Kenya — where Macron plans to travel in April — is attending in its stead.
Other invited countries include India, South Korea and Brazil, the official said.
Kenya’s principal secretary for foreign affairs said on 24 March that the East African nation had been asked to attend the summit.
South Africa’s relations with the US have deteriorated sharply since Donald Trump’s return to the White House last year.
The American president has falsely accused Pretoria of subjecting White farmers to a genocide and seizing their land, denounced its relations with Iran and Hamas, and rejected its Black economic-empowerment policies.
Trump boycotted a G-20 summit that Ramaphosa hosted in Johannesburg in November last year, and said South African officials won’t be invited to attend this year’s meeting in Miami.
