Trump Tweet About South African White Farmers Deeply Troubling - Advocacy Group

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd August, 2018) US President Donald Trump's statement on Twitter about alleged racially-fueled killings of white farmers in South Africa is deeply concerning, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said in a press release on Thursday.

"It is extremely disturbing that the President of the United States echoed a longstanding and false white supremacist claim that South Africas white farmers are targets of large-scale, racially-motivated killings by South Africas black majority," the release said.

On Wednesday, Trump wrote in a message via Twitter that he has asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to thoroughly study the situation in South Africa, including farm seizures and a large number of murders of farmers.

The ADL said Trump's claims are similar to the one white supremacists in the United States have made for decades. All references to genocide in South Africa come from neo-Nazi, skinheads, Christian identity groups and prison racist gangs, the ADL noted.

Trump must fully learn the situation on the ground and understand the divisive nature of his comments, the ADL said.

Land reform in South Africa has been a controversial issue as the country was governed by white Europeans since 1940, while black Africans were segregated and subjected to economic discrimination, including not being able to live or establish business on land designated for whites.

The South African parliament passed a measure in 2016 opening a path for the expropriation of property for a public purpose whereby the government could take land from white - as well as other - land owners.