…As UK, EU set for clash over citizens’ rights during transition***
African leaders decided to refrain from issuing a resolution to criticise Donald Trump’s alleged reference to their nations as “shithole countries” because the U.S. president sent them a letter expressing respect for the continent.
The leaders who met at an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital were initially set to demand an apology from Trump over the remark reported by sources at a meeting on immigration with him this month.
Trump denies making the comment.
Reports of the comment touched a nerve because they come on top of decisions by the Trump administration, particularly on visa restrictions, that many Africans say unfairly penalise the continent.
As the summit was being held at ministerial level, the gathering drafted a resolution calling on Trump to “publicly apologise to all Africans”.
Anything short of that would force them to suspend a cooperation deal signed between Washington and the bloc, a draft seen by Reuters showed.
African leaders are “dismayed and shocked by the increasingly consistent trend by the Trump Administration to denigrate of African descent … thereby promoting racism, xenophobia and bigotry,” the draft read.
A Jan. 25 letter sent by Trump prompted a change of tack at presidential level.
One summit official said the final resolution that is yet to be released contains no reference to the issue after the leaders concluded the meeting late on Monday.
“I want to underscore that the United States deeply respects the people of Africa and my commitment to strong and respectful relationships with African states as sovereign states is firm,” Trump said.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would “travel to Africa for an extended visit,” he said.
The AU Commission had “taken due note” of the letter, which wished the summit success, Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said during the closing press conference.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who met Trump last week on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said Trump’s reported comment had no impact on the AU summit.
“When Americans decided to give us Trump as their president we deal with that president of the United States.
“It is not an issue of whether you appreciate him for this or for that, it is a job that he is doing for his country,” added Kagame, who assumed the African Union’s chairmanship this year.
He said both he and Trump had stressed the need for more cooperation.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Theresa May has warned that European citizens arriving in Britain after Brexit in 2019 may lose some rights, setting up a clash with the EU over their treatment during any transition period.
Curbing immigration was a key reason why Britons voted to leave the EU in 2016, following a large influx of EU citizens, especially from poorer countries in eastern Europe.
The European Union has offered Britain a status quo transition until the end of 2020 after Brexit. The bloc wants its three million citizens to remain eligible for all the same rights until the end of that period.
May has suggested EU citizens coming to Britain after March next year will be treated differently.
“People who had come to the UK when we were a member of the EU had set up certain expectations – they made a life choice and set up certain expectation,” May told reporters on her way to China.
“I‘m clear there’s a difference between those people who came prior to us leaving and those who will come when they know the UK is no longer a member of the EU.”
This is one obstacle Britain and the EU will need to resolve to reach a transitional deal, which will give the two sides time to prepare for the far-reaching impact of the end of 46 years of union.
Philippe Lamberts, a European lawmaker who deals with Brexit, told Reuters on Thursday of the looming clash: “Citizens’ rights will be a negotiation point and we want to stand firm on this that new provisions only enter into force after the end of the transition period.”
Many Brexit backers are voicing concern that the referendum result may be betrayed with the plan to change little of the current relationship immediately after Britain formally leaves on March 29, 2019.
May dismissed some of those concerns.
“They did not vote for nothing to change when we come out of the EU.
“What we’re doing now is doing the job that the British people asked the government to do which is to deliver on Brexit.”
