Argentine President Javier Milei will not attend this month’s G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg, a move government insiders say is already being interpreted as a snub toward Africa. The decision comes just days after President Trump announced the United States would also forgo participation, citing alleged human rights abuses against South Africa’s white Afrikaner minority.
Officials in Buenos Aires had been preparing for Milei’s trip through Monday night, assuming he would join world leaders at the November 22–23 gathering of major economies. But late that evening, sources inside the Presidential Office confirmed he will remain in Argentina, sending G20 envoy Federico Pinedo and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno in his place.
A senior diplomatic source who helped organize Argentina’s 2018 G20 summit warned the move “will be seen as a slight to the whole of Africa,” adding that Argentina, as one of the bloc’s smallest economies, risks marginalization if it merely follows Washington’s lead.
In a Truth Social post, Trump called hosting the G20 in South Africa “a total disgrace,” accusing the Ramaphosa government of allowing killings and land seizures targeting Afrikaners.
