South African President Cyril Ramaphosa officially received the credentials of the new United States ambassador on Wednesday, who was summoned in March by Pretoria for remarks deemed "undiplomatic", in a context of tensions between the two countries.
South Africa had already approved in February the American diplomat Brent Bozell, a fervent supporter of Donald Trump, who therefore formally presented his letters of credence to President Ramaphosa on Wednesday during a brief ceremony in Pretoria.
Brent Bozell arrived in a context of greatly deteriorated bilateral relations, the United States reproaching South Africa for its complaint for genocide filed against Israel for its war in Gaza before international justice and an alleged persecution of Afrikaners, descendants of the settlers Europeans.
During his first public speech since his arrival in February, Mr. Bozell criticized the "hateful remarks" of the song "Kill the Boer, Kill the farmer", resulting from the fight against the apartheid regime. He also criticized several programs and legislation implemented by the government in South Africa.
He was summoned in mid-March for his "undiplomatic" comments by the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Thousands of South Africans then marched in Johannesburg at the call of the ruling party, the ANC, whose secretary general had described the new American ambassador, aged 70, as an “old white man who looks deranged”
During Wednesday's ceremony at the presidential residence, the American ambassador was much more diplomatic: "before my arrival here, I cannot tell you how many people assured me that in a short time, I would fall in love with the country. It was not enough only two months, and I can confirm that this is what happened."
“We are two nations sharing great values and great interests... My objective (...) is to consolidate these common interests, to strengthen self-respect, to build on our shared values, to take our two nations towards new horizons,” declared Mr. Bozell.
President Ramaphosa, for his part, stressed that diplomats are expected to respect the sovereignty of their host country, exercise discretion and express their concerns through discreet and constructive channels rather than through "conflictual" public criticism.
“It is this approach which, in my opinion, allows us to build solid relations between nations and contributes to promoting the interests of our respective countries, in a spirit of mutual respect,” he declared.
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