Trump's picture of dead white farmers comes from the Congo, not South Africa

Trump's picture of dead white farmers comes from the Congo, not South Africa

fact check of the Reuters video

The video relating, which Reuters published on February 3 and later verified by the news agency's factual test team, shows humanitarian helpers who raise funeral bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The picture comes from recordings that were made after fatal battles with M23 rebels supported by Rwanda. The blog post that Trump presented during the meeting was published by American Thinker , a conservative online magazine, and discussed conflicts and tensions regarding racial questions in South Africa and the Congo.

misunderstanding about the image material

the post only identified the picture as a "YouTube screenshot" and included a link to a video about the Congo on YouTube, which Reuters recognized recognition. The White House press office did not respond to a request from Reuters. Andrea Widburg, editor -in -chief of American Thinker and author of the contribution in question, stated in her answer that Trump had "misinformed" the picture. However, she added that the contribution pointed out to the increasing pressure that was on white South Africans.

The background of the recordings

The image material from which the screenshot came from shows a measure of an M23 attack on Goma and was filmed by the Reuters video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty. Al Katanty reported that it was extremely difficult on this day to make reporting as a journalist. "I had to negotiate with the M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be filmed," he said. "Only Reuters has the video."

shock about the use of the image

Al Katanty was shocked when he saw Trump held the article with his screenshot. "In front of the world, President Trump used my picture I took in the Congo to convince President Ramaphosa that white people are killed by black people in his country," said Al Katanty.

context of the meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa

ramaphosa visited Washington this week to improve relationships with the United States after Trump has repeatedly criticized South Africa's land laws, foreign policy and alleged bad treatment of the white minority in the past few months. Trump interrupted the public meeting with Ramaphosa to show a video that, in his opinion, provides evidence of a genocide of white farmers in South Africa. This conspiracy theory, which has been circulating in extreme right forums for years, is based on false claims.

Trump's incorrect statements about murders

Trump then flipped through printed copies of articles, which in his opinion in his opinion murders of white South Africans detailed, while he repeatedly said: "Death, death, death, terrible death."