A group of United States lawmakers has called for the removal of the 2023 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum set to take place in South Africa.
SA is due to host the U.S-Africa trade summit in Johannesburg to discuss the future of the programme, which is slated to expire in 2025.
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials, they said hosting the summit in SA shows that U.S is supporting the country’s deepening military relationship with Russia.
SA is accused of helping supply Russia with weapons for the Ukraine war, a charge that South Africa denies.
“We are seriously concerned that hosting the 2023 AGOA Forum in South Africa would serve as an implicit endorsement of South Africa’s damaging support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” read the letter.
