'Hates America, President Trump': US expels South African ambassador

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has declared the South African ambassador 'persona non grata,' accusing Ebrahim Rasool of 'hating' the United States and President Donald Trump.

Rasool is 'no longer welcome' in the United States, Rubio said.

"South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA," he posted on X.



While the US State Department did not have additional details, Rubio's X post was linked to a news report of Rasool accusing Trump of leading a 'white supremacist movement' in America and around the world.

The secretary posted the tweet while flying back to Washington DC from Canada's Quebec, where he attended a G7 foreign minister's meeting, news agency AP reported, adding that it was unclear whether the South African ambassador was even in the US at the time the decision was made.

Though it is highly unusual for the US to expel a foreign envoy (although lower-ranking diplomats are more frequently targeted with persona non grata status), Rubio's move comes follows Trump halting aid to South Africa over the African country's contentious land reform law.

South Africa reacts

In a statement, the office of South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa called the expulsion of its US envoy 'regrettable.'

"The Presidency has noted the regrettable expulsion of South Africa's Ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool," the statement said.

Rasool is serving as South Africa's US ambassador for a second time; he previously held the position from 2010 to 2015.

Recently, the New Zealand foreign ministry, too, sacked its envoy to the United Kingdom for remarks critical of Trump.