G20 summit closes in South Africa after U.S. absence : NPR

Heads of state pose for a family photo after the first plenary session of the G20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday.

Misper Apawu/Pool AP

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Misper Apawu/Pool AP

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — This weekend’s G20 Leaders’ Summit in South Africa was unusual for several reasons. The first summit on the African continent was also the first time the United States boycotted the summit of the world’s largest economies.

It was also unprecedented in that the group of disparate nations agreed to a statement at the start of the meeting rather than at its conclusion, and there was no ceremonial transfer of power between the outgoing and incoming G20 presidencies.

The Trump administration boycotted the event after Trump falsely accused the South African government of confiscating white-owned land and authorizing the killing of white Afrikaners. The United States also opposed what it sees as the summit’s DEI agenda – diversity, equity and inclusion.

Despite what some officials and analysts called Washington’s best attempt to derail the event, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations, Ronald Lamola, sounded optimistic as the event wrapped up Sunday at a convention center not far from Johannesburg’s famous Soweto township.

“In a word… it has been a great success for our country,” Lamola said.

Earlier on Sunday, host President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the meeting closed, banging a ceremonial gavel on the table.

“This hammer blow of this G20 summit formally closes this summit and now moves on to the next president of the G20, which is the United States, where we will see each other again next year,” he said.

Ordinarily, one would expect him to hand the gavel to the leader of the country who will assume the rotating presidency of the G20, but President Trump was not in attendance. Washington had requested that Ramaphosa hand over the baton to a young embassy official, but the South Africans refused.

“I mean, it’s a breach of protocol. It’s never happened before and it would never happen for the first time here in South Africa,” Ramaphosa spokesman Vincent Magwenya told reporters.

The transfer of power will now take place on Monday between South African and American officials of the same rank.

Joint declaration

The United States also told the South Africans that they should not issue a joint statement at the conclusion of the summit and that if they did issue anything, it should only be called a “president’s statement.”

However, Ramaphosa, who said before the event “we will not be intimidated”, announced at the opening of the meeting on Saturday that consensus had been reached and a joint statement had been issued without US input.

People walk past a big screen television where South African President Cyril Ramaphosa holds a wooden gavel as he officially closes the G20 leaders’ summit, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sunday.

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Jérôme Delay/AP

Although the G20 declarations are not binding, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly criticized the move, accusing Ramaphosa of “refusing to facilitate a smooth transition of the G20 presidency” and said Trump hoped to “restore the legitimacy” of the group next year. He announced plans to hold the event in Florida.

The statement contained the kind of DEI language loathed by the Trump administration, emphasizing the threat of climate change, the importance of achieving “gender equality” and the debt burden facing poorer countries.

Argentina — whose libertarian president, Javier Milei, is a strong Trump ally and did not attend the summit in solidarity with Trump but sent another representation — expressed some objections to the wording, but ultimately the statement was released anyway.

World leaders in attendance thanked South Africa for its leadership at the G20, with French President Emmanuel Macron warmly hugging Ramaphosa. But while Ramaphosa hailed the event as a victory for multilateralism, Macron noted that divisions at the summit were still apparent.

And although Ramaphosa said South Africa had used the summit to put “the global South at the heart of the agenda” and “prioritize issues that matter most to developing economies”, it was conflicts in other parts of the world that dominated on the sidelines of the summit.

European leaders issued a statement expressing concerns over the new U.S. peace plan for Ukraine, which some view as favorable to Moscow, saying it requires “additional work” and adding that proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attacks.

Furthermore, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his concern on Sunday about the strengthening of the American army near Venezuela.