Khamati calls for Egypt’s censure after minister insults Africans

The head of the Egyptian delegation to the UNEA-2 conference reportedly referred to Africans from the Sub-Sahara part of the continent as “dogs and slaves”

– This happened as he was speaking to his delegation, after an apparent misunderstanding over a resolution that was not adopted, during the Assembly held at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquaters in Nairobi

– The incident has elicited fury and criticism among many, especially Africans from the Sub-Saharan region

Reports of the dramatic showdown that happened as the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) came to a close last Friday May 27, 2016 have come to light.

Egypt’s Minister for Environment and President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) is said to have referred to Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa as “dogs and slaves” during debate.

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The unfortunate incident came to light after Chair of the Africa Diplomatic Corps (ADC) technical committee Yvonne Khamati wrote to the Dean of the Africa Diplomatic Corps Amb. Kelebert Nkomani requesting that Egypt be banned from representing the continent in any official capacity until it apologises for it’s minister’s utterances.

“Divisions evolved when the resolution on Gaza was not adopted due to a lack of quorum because most delegations had left. As a result, a few African delegations consulted with the delegation of Morocco, in their capacity as Chair of the Arab League and Egypt, with the view to dissuade them from nullifying the resolutions that had already been adopted before the issue of quorum was raised.
During our consultations with Egypt, the head of the Egyptian delegation and current President of African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) dismissed our concerns by informing that they would speak in their sovereign capacity and to that extent, referred to sub-Saharan Africa as dogs and slaves, in Arabic,” Khamati wrote in the memo.She explained in a tweet that other African delegates who understand Arabic confronted the minister over the utterances.
The memo was also copied to the Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed and the Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Monica Juma.

The event, which has elicited fury among a number of Africans, was described in the memo as Egypt’s “undiplomatic, irresponsible, uncivilised and insulting behaviour”.

The memo did not spell out the name of the accused, though Egypt’s Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy appears in the UNEP website as the AMCEN president.