NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 11 — Romania has recalled its ambassador to Kenya Dragos Viorel Tigau who made a racial slur during a key UN meeting in Nairobi.
Romania’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said it acted following concerns raised by the remark by the ambassador that has been widely condemned by the diplomatic corps in Kenya and across Africa.
“Taking into account the situation generated by the conduct of the Romanian ambassador to Kenya, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania has already initiated the procedure of recalling the Romanian ambassador,” the Romanian government stated in a dispatch to the media.
Expressing its condemnation of the incident, Bucharest disclosed that it only became aware of the incident on June 8 and immediately initiated the process of recalling the ambassador.
Bucharest said that the diplomat had failed to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the April incident as per the established procedures and practices.“At the same time, as soon as the Romanian MFA’s leadership has learned about the incident in the evening of the 8th of June 2023, the Minister of Foreign Affairs decided that the Romanian Ambassador to the Republic of Kenya return urgently to Romania and the MFA’s internal Control and Diplomatic Evaluation Unit start at once the necessary procedures, including the establishing of internal necessary measures to be taken in the given situation,” Romania’s Foreign Office added.
Written apology
The Romanian MFA regretted the incident which it says is contrary to the institution’s rules, including those of conduct and ethics.
Bucharest further explained that its ambassador to Kenya had presented his apologies after the incident, “including in writing.”
Tigau, also accredited to Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, sparked anger from African diplomats after he reportedly paralleled the arrival of an African group of diplomats to the sighting of a monkey in the vicinity.
An African diplomat who spoke to Capital News expressed frustration over inaction on the incident said to have happened on April 26 at the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON), Gigiri.
UNON’s silence on the matter appears to have angered a group of African diplomats said to have resorted to polling pressure on Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to demand action.
The African group accused UNON Director General Zainab Bangura of laxity while singling out Tigau’s actions as constituting a violation of the universal declaration of human.
It was not clear whether the African group which coalesces under a dean had issued a note verbal on the matter.
“Some of them have been quiet,” an envoy resident in Nairobi said Saturday.
Tigau is reported to have been chairing a meeting bringing together a section of European diplomats at UNON when he made the remark.
Kenya’s Foreign Office did not comment on the matter.
