Malawi has refused to comment on the remarks alleged to have been made by United States of America (USA) President Donald Trump that Haiti and African countries are ‘shithole’ states.
Trump is reported to have made the sentiments last Thursday during a meeting with his country’s lawmakers at the White House.
The allegations stirred debate globally, with the African Union (AU) publicly condemning the sentiments by the US leader.
Some African countries, including Botswana, have also condemned the remarks, urging other African countries to follow suit.
However, in an interview yesterday, Minister of Information and Technology Nicholas Dausi refused to comment on the matter, only saying: “Let’s wait and see.”
In a separate interview, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Emmanuel Fabiano could not be drawn to comment on the issue arguing there is no original document showing Trump calling African countries ‘shitholes’.
He could also not comment further, saying bilateral issues are not discussed in the media.
“We do not have an original copy of the document and this is a bilateral issue and normally we deal with the representative of the country concerned. We don’t discuss bilateral issues in the newspapers,” said Fabiano.
Trump, in a Twitter posting on Friday last week, is however denying to have used the word ‘shithole’ in the meeting.
Said Trump on Twitter: “The language used by me at the Daca meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made—a big setback for Daca!” n
