The United States and South Africa agree on the Afrikaners’ welcome program.
Washington and Pretoria have reached a discreet compromise to continue pursuing a controversial U.S. program to admit South African Afrikaners as refugees, despite persistent disagreements between the two capitals.
The agreement rests on a series of diplomatic exchanges held in late December 2025, according to reports.
For several months now, the U.S. administration has implemented an asylum initiative aimed primarily at Afrikaners, a European-origin community in South Africa, as part of an immigration policy Washington justifies as a response to allegations of serious discrimination.
Pretoria, for its part, has rejected the idea that systemic persecution against this community justifies refugee status, denouncing a reading it deems unfounded.
Despite these substantive criticisms, a meeting held on December 23 between South African officials and American diplomats allowed both sides to reach common ground. The South African authorities assured their American counterparts that they would not hinder the program’s implementation, provided that it strictly complies with South African law.
A tacit agreement was thus reached to allow Washington to continue its efforts without Pretoria interference.
On the South African side, representatives emphasized the importance of dissociating internal judicial matters from any diplomatic interpretation, noting that earlier actions, notably a police operation targeting personnel linked to the program, fell within the enforcement of the law and not a political dispute.
For the United States, the agreement guarantees the continuity of a mechanism deemed sensitive but legally framed. The two sides also expressed a desire to improve communication to avoid future public tensions over this matter, which sits within a broader context of sometimes tense relations between the two countries under the current U.S. administration.
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