South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, who was expelled from the United States and declared persona non grata, returned to his homeland at an airport Sunday and was welcomed by hundreds of people who sang songs in his honor.
Members who provided Rasool and his wife, Rosieda, with a mob-like reception at the arrivals terminal upon arrival at the Cape Town International Airport had to be escorted inside by police.
A persona non grata declaration is issued to embarrass me,” Rasool told the welcome committee upon being greeted by them behind a megaphone. But when you return to masses like these, and with love … like this, then I will wear my persona non grata as a badge of pride.”.
It was not our decision to return home, but we return home with no regrets,” the removed ambassador said. Rasool was packed off after remarks at a webinar where he had said that the ‘Make America Great Again’ phenomenon was in part a reaction to “a supremacist impulse.”
He insisted on Sunday that he still adhered to what was said and explained that they were nothing but alerting South African intellectuals and political leaders that America and its politics were no longer the same.
“It is not the U.S. of Obama, it is not the U.S. of Clinton, it is another U.S. and therefore our language must change,” Rasool said.
I would defend my analysis since we were dealing with a political phenomenon, not a personality, not a nation, and not even a government.”
Rasool added that it was necessary for South Africa to repair its relations with the U.S. after President Donald Trump sanctioned the nation and declared it anti-American before the expulsion decision of him.
Trump issued an executive order last month terminating all assistance to South Africa, accusing its government of supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran, and for seeking anti-white policies in the country.
“We don’t come here to say we are anti-American,” Rasool said to the crowd at the rally. “We are not here to ask you to abandon our interests with the United States.”.
They were the first public comments since the Trump administration made him persona non grata a week and more ago, revoked his diplomatic immunities and privileges, and ordered him to depart the United States by this Friday.
It is very unusual for the United States to expel a foreign ambassador.
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