South African President Cyril Ramaphosa refused to hand over the G20 presidency to a low-ranking U.S. diplomat. His office announced this amid growing diplomatic tensions between Pretoria and Washington. "The President will not hand over the presidency to a chargé d'affaires," presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya wrote on social media X. The dispute arose after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Ramaphosa on Thursday, accusing him of "talking too much" about the U.S. boycott of the G20 summit. Leavitt confirmed that a U.S. delegation will attend the handover ceremony at the end of the summit but stated that Washington will not participate in the G20 discussions. Marc D. Dillard, the U.S. chargé d'affaires in Pretoria, is expected to lead the U.S. delegation at the upcoming G20 Leaders' Summit. In diplomatic practice, a chargé d'affaires is the head of mission of the lowest rank, usually appointed when a country does not have an ambassador in office. Ramaphosa made these remarks during a joint press conference with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, António Costa. "We have received notification from the United States, regarding which we are still in dialogue with them, about a change of mind regarding participating in the summit in one form or another," he stated. He added that this information came just days before the meeting and that further dialogue was necessary "to assess its viability and final implications."
