South Africans ex­pressed dismay on Thurs­day at how U.S. Presi­dent Donald Trump’s false claims of a white genocide dominated a conversation with President Cyril Ramaphosa, and many wondered if his trip to Washington was worth the trouble.

Ramaphosa included popular white South African golfers in his delegation and he had hoped talks with Trump in the White House on Wednesday would reset relations with the United States, which have nosedived since the U.S. leader took office in January.

But Trump spent most of the conversation confronting his visitor with false claims that South Africa’s white minority farmers are being systematically murdered and having their land seized.

“He didn’t get Zelenskyed. That’s what we have to hang onto (He) did not get personally insulted by the world’s most horrible duo of play­ground bullies,” Rebecca Davis of the national Daily Maverick wrote.

At a February White House meet­ing, Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, calling him ungrateful for U.S. military aid, and Zelenskiy heatedly tried to argue his case.

For some, though, Ramaphosa’s cool composure raised the question of what was achieved by his having subjected himself to the onslaught.

“I don’t think it was the right call. I don’t think we need to explain our­selves to USA,” 40-year-old Sobelo Motha, a member of a trade union, said on the streets of Johannesburg.

“We … we know there’s no white genocide. So for me, it was pointless exercise.”

The South African president arrived prepared for an aggressive reception given actions in recent months by Trump, who has canceled aid to South Africa, offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners, expelled the country’s ambassador and criti­cised its genocide court case against Israel.

But throughout, Trump wanted only to discuss the treatment of white South Africans, playing a video and leafing through articles that he said proved his allegations.

—Reuters

 A kenyan police officer deployed to Haiti to assist in combating violent gangs was killed during a con­frontation with one of the gangs, according to Kenyan officials on Sunday.

The incident occurred in the Artibonite region, where Kenyan forces were engaged in operations to address gang violence.

The Kenyan mission reported that the officers were responding to a request for assistance from residents in Pont-Sonde.

The officer was airlifted for medical treatment but succumbed to his injuries, as stated by God­frey Otunge, the commander of the Kenyan contingent in Haiti.

Following the shooting, the officers pursued the assailants. Mission representative Jack Ombaka expressed gratitude to hospital personnel and Salvador­an forces for their support after the incident.

“This is the sacrifice our brave officer made — he lost his life while defending the people of Haiti,” Ombaka remarked.

The Gran Grif gang is known to dominate the area.

This loss is a setback for efforts to control Haiti’s gangs, which have been rampant since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

Kenya has deployed hundreds of officers to support Haiti’s struggling law enforcement, with an additional 200 officers arriving in February to join over 600 already present, as part of a multinational force that includes personnel from Jamaica, Guate­mala, and El Salvador.

—Africa News

 the Sudanese army says it has broken a near two-year siege imposed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the key southern state capital of el-Obeid.

The breakthrough came hours after the RSF signed a political charter in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to establish a breakaway government in areas under its control.

The RSF and the army have been in a vicious battle for power since April 2023, with tens of thousands of people killed and millions forced from their homes.

The war has split the country, with the army controlling the north and the east while the RSF holds most of the Darfur region in the west and parts of the south.

El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, is a strategic hub connecting the capital, Khartoum, to Darfur. This is the latest army advance in recent weeks following the recapture of several parts of Khartoum from the RSF.

There was jubilation on the streets as Sudanese soldiers marched into the city.

A military spokesman, Nabil Abdallah, confirmed the gains in a statement, saying army forces had destroyed RSF units.

Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim said the move was a “massive step” in lifting the RSF siege on el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, and would also allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Kordofan.

Sudanese civil society activist Dallia Abdlemoniem told the BBC Newsday programme that the recapture of the city “was “huge” and “significant”.

She said the RSF had “held the civilians captive for nearly two years” in the city.

The situation there was “horrif­ic”, she said, adding that there had been no medical or food aid in an area considered “to be very risky in terms of famine and malnutri­tion”. —BBC.