Romania ambassador to Kenya calls Africans “monkey” and is fired

Romania says it is recalling its ambassador to Kenya after he referred to African diplomats as “monkey”.

Ambassador Dragos Tigau was meeting with diplomats in Nairobi on April 26 when a monkey appeared at a window of the conference room.

“The African Group has joined us,” he said, according to a note from the South Sudanese embassy in Kenya seen by the AFP news agency.

African diplomats condemned the comment and threatened to walk out of meetings attended by the ambassador.

“The African Group would like to condemn in strongest terms possible the insulting, racist and degrading utterances,” wrote Chol Ajongo, South Sudan’s ambassador to Kenya who leads African diplomats in Nairobi, in a letter demanding an apology.

One document said Russia’s deputy ambassador “reprimanded” the Romanian official who apologized “after some hesitation”, according to CNN.

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Mr Tigau later sent two apology letters to the diplomats. He initially said his comments were an attempt at “relaxing the atmosphere” after “a long, heated and highly debated meeting”. He later withdrew that section.

Romania’s foreign ministry apologized and said that it only learned of the incident on June 8. It said on Saturday it “began a procedure to recall its ambassador”.

“The Romanian MFA deeply regrets this situation, conveys its apologies to all those affected and strongly rejects and condemns all behaviors and attitudes incompatible with mutual respect,” it said in a statement.

The ministry said it hoped the isolated incident would not affect its “deep relations” with African countries.

Kenya’s foreign and diaspora affairs secretary Alfred Mutua on Sunday praised the Romanian action.

“I thank the Romanian Government for recalling its envoy to Nairobi after he made disparaging and racist remarks against Africans and all Black people. We have been in conversation with the African Group, UN and Romanian Government since this shocking and despicable occurrence,” Mr Mutua said.