Romania has recalled its ambassador to Kenya and apologised after Dragos Tigau allegedly compared Africans to monkeys.
Tigau is reported to have said, “The African group has joined us,” when a monkey appeared outside a window during a meeting in April at a United Nations building in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
Dragos Tigau made the comments during a meeting at a UN building in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on April 26.
According to the AFP news agency, Mr Tigau said “the African group has joined us” when he saw a monkey outside a window.
Mr Tigau’s behaviour was first made public on Thursday by Kenyan foreign affairs official Kamau Macharia. On Twitter Mr Macharia said he was left “appalled and disgusted” by the incident, and claimed that attempts were made to cover up Mr Tigau’s behaviour.
CNN reports it has obtained documents showing that African diplomats formally condemned the Romanian diplomat’s remarks during a meeting with Eastern European envoys at an April meeting.
“The African Group would like to condemn in strongest terms possible the insulting, racist and degrading utterances,” wrote Chol Ajong’o, South Sudan’s ambassador to Kenya who leads African diplomats in Nairobi.
On Saturday, Romania announced that it had only been informed of the incident this week and had now begun “a procedure to recall its ambassador”.
“We deeply regret this situation and offer our apologies to all those who have been affected,” the statement from Romania’s foreign affairs ministry read.
“Any behaviours or comments of a racist nature are completely unacceptable,” it added, saying it hoped it would not affect its ties with African countries.Romania mainly engages with African nations through its membership of the European Union, but it has bilateral trade deals with Egypt among others.
CNN reports that it has also seen two letters of apology Tigau sent to the diplomats. Tigau initially said that his comments came during “a long, heated and highly debated meeting” and were an attempt at “relaxing the atmosphere.” He later withdrew that section.
Romania said Saturday that it had just recently learned about the April incident.
Romania’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “We deeply regret this situation and offer our apologies to all those who have been affected.”
Romanian media have criticised Mr Tigau’s behaviour, and say this is not the first time the country has been embarrassed by insults dished out by diplomats.
