Rubio denies reports US State Department will reduce presence in Africa

Unspecified number of 'non-essential' embassies and consulates in Sub-Saharan Africa would be shut, says draft order

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent very little time responding to media speculation about State Department matters. Reuters

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday described as “fake” reports that the Trump administration is preparing an executive order that would reduce the State Department's operations in Africa and beyond.

Climate change, refugee welfare and offices promoting the US models of democracy and human rights would also be cut, according to a draft executive order seen by The New York Times and several other outlets.

In a post on X, Mr Rubio said the Times story was “fake news”. He did not explain further or provide any description of what changes the State Department might be considering.

The proposals continue the Trump administration’s repudiation of the US role in the multilateral world order that it helped to shape.

Under the changes, the sprawling State Department would be reorganised into four regional bureaus covering the Indo-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Eurasia. An unspecified number of “non-essential” embassies and consulates in sub-Saharan Africa would be closed.

The changes should be made by October 1, according to the draft.

The latest proposal under discussion follows the leaking to US media of another proposed plan under which the State Department's budget would be cut by half.

In the latest draft plan, offices dealing with climate change and human rights would be “eliminated”.

The US presence in Canada, a leading ally of Washington that President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested should be annexed and made a 51st state, would run with a “significantly reduced team.” The embassy in Ottawa would “significantly downscale.”

It remains unclear if the entire contents of the draft order will be signed by Mr Trump. One senior official in Africa told Bloomberg that information circulating within the State Department about reforms that are set to be announced to the foreign service – possibly as soon as Tuesday – would be less sweeping than those described in the document.

Some employees writing on a foreign service-dedicated Reddit page also expressed doubt about how such an order could be put into effect.

“I suspect this is being leaked as a red herring designed to make us grateful for a more modest but still unpopular reorganisation,” wrote one user. “It will be basically immediately challenged and enjoined, and then ‘implementation’ will be dragged out until Trump is voted out.”