Egyptian take to Twitter to apologise to Africa for alleged comments by Egyptian official who referred to sub-Saharan Africa as “dogs and slaves” during a recent UN conference in Kenya.
According to reports by Al Jazeera, A Kenyan diplomat Yvonne Khamati, chairwaoman of the Africa Diplomatic Corp Technical Committee, wrote a letter saying an unnamed Egyptian official made “uncivilised, undiplomatic, irresponsible, degrading and insulting” comments at the just concluded UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi. The remarks were allegedly made in Arabic during consultation on the lack of quorum to pass resolutions affecting Gaza, Khamati said.
Ms. Khamati asked for an apology and demanded that Egypt be banned from representing African interests in any negotiations.
“It is completely unacceptable to make the mistake of generalising and making flimsy accusations against the Egyptian state and people that cast doubt on its African identity,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Egypt’s Foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, announced on Tuesday that he has ordered an “Immediate investigation” into the allegations.
#WeAreSorryAfrica some of the tweets from Egyptians
#WearesorryAfrica and most of all we are sorry to ourselves.This ignorant racist man does not represent us Egyptians pic.twitter.com/AUUEeU4GVj
— Yehia El Gammal (@YehiaMelGammal) May 31, 2016
https://twitter.com/DrBenArfa/status/737604832165429253
It is surreal how racist the government official is. Maybe he was sick on the day they explained Egypt was in Africa. #WeAreSorryAfrica
— Nihal 🌿 (@coralbeef_) May 31, 2016
Really sorry #WearesorryAfrica
— Moz-tapha (@mostafasamak) May 31, 2016
https://twitter.com/emmyahmed376/status/737696329149845504
https://twitter.com/abu_hassan_/status/737376109394812928
I hereby declare that the Egyptian minister that made those racist comments does not represent me #wearesorryafrica
— Ahmed Adel (@click_mobinil) May 31, 2016
