South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has downplayed reports that his invitation to the forthcoming G7 summit in France has been withdrawn, saying non-attendance by a country outside the bloc should surprise no-one.
Reports on Thursday claimed the US had put huge pressure on France to rescind Ramaphosa’s invitation to the summit scheduled for June. They claimed US President Donald Trump had threatened to boycott the summit if the South African leader attended.
“The invitation to the G7 does not mean that you’re being snubbed if you’re not invited or you’re being ignored,” said Ramaphosa.
France has, however, denied yielding to any US pressure, saying it had decided to invite Kenya this time.
France, which holds the presidency of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations, said on Thursday it would host leaders from South Korea and three other non-member countries – India, Brazil and Kenya – at its annual summit in Évian-les-Bains.
It said the invitations were part of efforts to “correct global economic imbalances”.
A South African official said on Thursday it had been excluded from the summit after initially being invited, citing “sustained pressure from the US”.
“They couldn’t risk missing a key member of the G7, hence the withdrawal of their invitation, which President [Emmanuel] Macron personally extended to President Ramaphosa last year during the G20 summit here in Johannesburg,” said Vincent Magwenya, the presidency spokesperson.