President Donald Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday by playing him a video that he claimed proved genocide is being committed against white people, driving farmers to flee to the United States.
The extraordinary stunt turned the usually staid diplomatic setting of the Oval Office into a stage for Trump's contention that white South African farmers are being persecuted.
With the media standing by and Ramaphosa at times unable to get a word in, Trump had staff put the video on a large screen, saying it showed black South Africans discussing genocide.
"You do allow them to take land, and then when they take the land, they kill the white farmer, and when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them," Trump said.
Trump — who had set the tone in his opening remarks when he introduced Ramaphosa as "controversial" in some quarters — said it would be the "end of the country if it's not resolved."
He also showed news clippings that he said backed up his claims.
The South African president denied that his country confiscates land from white farmers under a land expropriation law signed in January that aims to redress the historical inequalities of white minority rule.
"No, no, no, no," Ramaphosa responded. "Nobody can take land."
He also insisted that most victims of South Africa's notoriously high crime rate are black.
The visit by the South African leader had been billed as a chance to smoothen relations following unfounded genocide claims by Trump and his billionaire, South African-born ally Elon Musk.
Musk, who was also in the Oval Office, has been a key driver of the "white genocide" claims.
"We are essentially here to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa," Ramaphosa said.
But Ramaphosa was left repeatedly trying to speak as the video played, even as Trump drowned him out. "Where is this?" added the South African president as he shuffled awkwardly in his seat.
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