The Trump administration has floated abolishing the US state department agency in charge of policy in Africa and closing many embassies on the continent in a draft executive order that has been decried as a “hoax” by secretary of state Marco Rubio.
The document, seen by the Financial Times, also proposes cutting the US president’s envoy for climate, along with bureaus responsible for human rights, refugees and US policy at the UN and other international organisations. US diplomatic operations in Canada, including the embassy in Ottawa, would also “significantly downscale”.
Rubio said the draft order, which was first reported by the New York Times, was “fake news”. In a statement the state department said: “The NYT article is entirely based on a fake document.”