Kate Bartlett

Trump accuses Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading a terrorist drug cartel.

Kate Bartlett, NPR News, Johannesburg.

South African attendees broke out into cheers as President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the summit closed.

Usually, the outgoing president of the G20 hands over formally to the incoming one, but as President Trump was not in attendance, that didn't happen.

The U.S.

administration had boycotted the summit after falsely accusing South Africa of human rights abuses against its white minority.

It had also objected to the summit's themes surrounding debt alleviation and climate change.

However, all other countries had representatives in attendance, and the summit achieved a joint declaration despite U.S.

objections.

Kate Bartlett, NPR News, Johannesburg.

It's been a long, hard road for South Africa in the lead up to the event, the first ever summit of the world's richest nations held on African soil.

The Trump administration's boycott has dominated the headlines, overshadowing the summit's progressive agenda, which includes debt relief for poorer countries and climate change financing.

But South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an early success consensus from the countries present over a joint declaration.

The summit ends Sunday and the U.S.

assumes the group's rotating presidency.

Kate Bartlett, NPR News, Johannesburg.

This is NPR News.

South Africa's Minister for International Relations and Cooperation admitted the incident was, quote, suspicious and said it seemed to be an attempt to, quote, cleanse Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank.

Immigration officials initially blocked the Palestinian passengers from disembarking after landing in South Africa because they did not have the correct documents.

They were eventually allowed in on humanitarian grounds.