Expelled South African ambassador returns home and says will wear US sanction as 'badge of dignity'

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The South African ambassador who was expelled from the United States and declared persona non grata by the Trump administration was welcomed home at an airport Sunday by hundreds of supporters who sang songs praising him.

Crowds at Cape Town International Airport surrounded Ebrahim Rasool and his wife Rosieda as they emerged in the arrivals terminal in their hometown, and they needed a police escort to help them navigate their way through the building.

“A declaration of persona non grata is meant to humiliate you," Rasool told the supporters as he addressed them with a megaphone. "But when you return to crowds like this, and with warmth ... like this, then I will wear my persona non grata as a badge of dignity.”

“It was not our choice to come home, but we come home with no regrets.”

Rasool was expelled for comments he made on a webinar that included him saying that the Make America Great Again movement was partly a response to “a supremacist instinct.”

Rasool said on his return home it was important for South Africa to fix its relationship with the U.S. after President Donald Trump punished the country and accused it of taking an anti-American stance even before the decision to expel him.

The U.S. president issued an executive order last month cutting all funding to South Africa, alleging its government is supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran, and pursuing anti-white policies at home.

“We don’t come here to say we are anti-American,” Rasool said to the crowd. “We are not here to call on you to throw away our interests with the United States.”

They were the ex-ambassador's first public comments since the Trump administration declared him persona non grata over a week ago, removed his diplomatic immunities and privileges, and gave him until this Friday to leave the U.S.

It is highly unusual for the U.S. to expel a foreign ambassador.

Rasool was declared persona non grata by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a post on X on March 14. Rubio said Rasool was a “race-baiting politician” who hates the U.S. and Trump.

Although Rubio didn't directly cite a reason, his post linked to a story by the conservative Breitbart news site that reported on a talk Rasool gave on a webinar organized by a South African think tank. In his talk, Rasool spoke in academic language of the Trump administration’s crackdowns on diversity and equity programs and immigration and mentioned the possibility of a U.S. where white people soon would no longer be in the majority.

“The supremacist assault on incumbency, we see it in the domestic politics of the U.S.A., the MAGA movement, the Make America Great Again movement, as a response not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the U.S.A. in which the voting electorate in the U.S.A. is projected to become 48% white,” Rasool said in the talk.

On Sunday, he said he stood by those comments, and characterized them as merely alerting intellectuals and political leaders in South Africa that the U.S. and its politics had changed.

“It is not the U.S. of Obama, it is not the U.S. of Clinton, it is a different U.S. and therefore our language must change,” Rasool said. “I would stand by my analysis because we were analyzing a political phenomenon, not a personality, not a nation, and not even a government."

He also said that South Africa would resist pressure from the U.S. — and anyone else — to drop its case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The Trump administration has cited that case against U.S. ally Israel as one of the reasons it alleges South Africa is anti-American.

The Breitbart story Rubio cited when announcing Rasool's expulsion was written by South African-born senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak, who is Jewish and an ally of the Trump administration. Pollak is also a contender to be the new U.S. ambassador to South Africa, according to South African media.

Some of the supporters welcoming Rasool, who is Muslim, home to Cape Town waved Palestinian flags and chanted “free Palestine.”

“As we stand here, the bombing (in Gaza) has continued and the shooting has continued, and if South Africa was not in the (International Court of Justice), Israel would not be exposed, and the Palestinians would have no hope,” Rasool said. “We cannot sacrifice the Palestinians ... but we will also not give up with our relationship with the United States. We must fight for it, but we must keep our dignity.”

Expelled South Africa Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool speaks to supporters upon his arrival at Cape Town International Airport, in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

Expelled South Africa Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool is greeted by supporters following his arrival, at Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

Expelled South Africa Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool speaks to supporters following his arrival, at Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

Expelled South Africa Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool speaks to journalist following his arrival, at Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

Expelled South Africa Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool speaks to supporters following his arriving, at Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The death toll from wildfires ravaging southern regions of South Korea rose to 24, officials said Wednesday. The National Fire Agency says 26 other people have sustained varying degrees of injuries.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Wind-driven wildfires that were among South Korea's worst ever were ravaging the country's southern regions, killing 18 people, destroying more than 200 structures and forcing 27,000 people to evacuate, officials said Wednesday.

Officials also said a helicopter crashed during efforts to contain wildfires in the southeastern town of Uiseong, one of the areas hardest-hit by the wildfires. The Korea Forest Service said rescue efforts were underway and it was presumed that the aircraft was operated by one pilot with no crew members.

An ancient Buddhist temple, houses, factories and vehicles were among the structures destroyed in the wildfires that have burned 43,330 acres and injured 19 people, the government’s emergency response center said.

In a televised address, South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo said the wildfires that began last Friday were causing worse damage than many other past wildfires.

“Damages are snowballing,” Han said. “There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week.”

Han said crews were struggling to extinguish the wildfires because strong winds swept the areas overnight. Han said about 4,650 firefighters, soldiers and other personnel were working Wednesday to extinguish the wildfires with the help of about 130 helicopters. He said that “a small amount” of 5-10 millimeters of rain was expected Thursday.

Observers say the ongoing wildfires are the third biggest in South Korea in terms of land burned.

Officials in several southeastern cities and towns had ordered residents to evacuate Tuesday as firefighters struggled to contain multiple blazes fueled by dry winds. The largest fires were in Andong, the neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, according to South Korea's Interior Ministry.

Earlier on Tuesday, officials had said firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in those areas, but wind and dry conditions allowed the blazes to spread again. But efforts to fight the fires were partially suspended overnight as the winds strengthened.

The blaze in Uiseong destroyed nearly half of more than 30 structures at Gounsa, a temple which was said to be originally built in the 7th century. Among the destroyed structures were two state-designated “treasures" — a pavilion-shaped structure built on a stream built in 1668 and a Joseon Dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.

The temple’s another state-designated “treasure,” a stone Buddha statue reportedly manufactured in the 8th century, was evacuated to a safe place, according to government and Buddhist officials.

The Justice Ministry said it protectively removed 500 inmates from a detention center in Cheongsong, another southern town, but no damages were reported to the facility.

The Korea Forest Service said it had raised its wildfire warning to the highest “serious” level nationwide Tuesday, requiring local governments to assign more workers to emergency response, tighten entry restrictions for forests and parks, and recommend that military units withhold live-fire exercises.

The 18 dead include four firefighters and government workers who were killed in Sancheong on Saturday after being trapped by fast-moving flames driven by strong winds, according to officials.

Government officials suspect human error caused several of the fires, possibly due to the use of fire while clearing overgrown grass in family tombs or sparks from welding work.

Burnt-out houses are seen at a damaged village due to wildfires in Yeongdeok, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

Burnt-out houses are seen at a damaged village due to wildfires in Yeongdeok, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

A person walks past houses destroyed by wildfires at a village in Yeongyang, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

Firefighters inspect the wreckage of a crashed firefighting helicopter at a mountain in Uiseong, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)

The wreckage of a crashed firefighting helicopter is seen at a mountain in Uiseong, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)

South Korean acting President Han Duck-soo, center, speaks during a press conference at the Government Complex in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP)

A bell is seen broken at the remains of the bell pavilion at Goun Temple in Uiseong, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Kim Do-hoon/Yonhap via AP)

Burnt-out houses are seen at a damaged village due to wildfires in Yeongyang, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

Escaped villagers from wildfires take rest at a shelter in Yeongyang, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

A man walks near a burnt-out house in a damaged village in Yeongyang, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

Houses burn in a village after being engulfed by a wildfire fueled by strong winds in Uiseong, South Korea, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

A road is closed as a wildfire fueled by strong winds spreads in Uiseong, South Korea, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

A Korea Forest Service helicopter dumps fire retardant on a wildfire in Sancheong, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Kim Dong-min/Yonhap via AP)

A firefighter works to extinguish a fire at a house that has been engulfed in a wildfire in Uiseong, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

Houses burn in a village after being engulfed by a wildfire fueled by strong winds in Uiseong, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

A Korea Forest Service helicopter dumps fire retardant on a wildfire in Uiseong, South Korea, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)