French President, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, on Saturday said the boycott of in G20 summit South Africa by the United States, the group of major world economies is “at risk” as it struggles to tackle international crises.
This is as the South African President, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, said they will not hand the next presidency of the group to a US embassy representative after President Donald Trump refused to attend the summit.
Macron was among two dozen world leaders at the summit marked by the absence of President Trump, who is at loggerheads with Pretoria on a range of issues.
“The G20 may be coming to the end of a cycle,” the French leader told the gathering in Johannesburg.
“We are living in a moment of geopolitics in which we are struggling to resolve major crises together around this table, including with members who are not present today,” Macron said.
He referred specifically to a new unilateral US plan to end the war in Ukraine that accepts some of Russia’s hardline demands.
European leaders in Johannesburg met on the sidelines of the G20 to discuss counter-proposals.
“There can be no peace in Ukraine without Ukrainians, without respect for their sovereignty,” Macron repeated.
The G20 is made up of 19 countries, including Russia, as well as the European Union and African Union regional groupings.
It was struggling to establish common ground on issues such as humanitarian law and sovereignty, Macron said.
World leaders needed to acknowledge that “the G20 is at risk if we do not collectively re-engage around a few priorities,” Macron said.
“We must absolutely demonstrate that we have concrete actions to re-engage this forum and provide responses for our economies collectively around this table,” Macron said.
Meanwhile, the South African President, Ramaphosa, has said they will not hand the next presidency of the group to a US embassy representative after President Donald Trump refused to attend the summit.
The Trump administration has boycotted the Johannesburg meeting that wraps up on Sunday and said it would send the charge d’affaires of its US embassy in South Africa for the handover, with Washington assuming the 2026 presidency of the group of leading economies.
Ramaphosa “will not be handing over to the charge d’affaires from the US,” Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told journalists.
“The United States is a member of the G20, and if they want to be represented, they can still send anyone at the right level,” he said.
This would be the head of state, minister or a “special envoy appointed by the president,” Lamola said.
Otherwise, a handover could take place at government offices between officials of the same ranking, he said.
Trump’s absence from the Johannesburg summit follows his withdrawal of the United States from other multilateral events and his feud with Pretoria over a range of international and domestic issues including claims that white South Africans are persecuted.
The US embassy told South Africa ahead of the summit that its priorities “run counter” to US policy views and no joint declaration could be issued after the meeting because of its absence and objections.
The meeting, which brought together nearly two dozen world leaders, adopted Saturday a leaders’ declaration that called for peace in Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the “Occupied Palestinian Territory”, as well as safeguards on the global supply of critical minerals.
“We cannot be held back by one country,” presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya told reporters.
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