A joke by the German foreign ministry about its Leopard tanks and the Russian foreign minister's current African tour has prompted scathing remarks in Africa about a supposed lack of consideration for the continent.
"Russian Foreign Minister #Lavrov is in Africa, not to see (leopards) but to bluntly state that #Ukraine's partners '
want to destroy everything Russian
'," the German ministry tweeted. of Foreign Affairs, alluding to Berlin's choice to deliver 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev.
In search of support, Sergei Lavrov was at the same time in Angola, the third country of his African tour.
African Union reaction
Ebba Kalondo, spokesperson for the chairperson of the African Union Commission, reacted by asking on Twitter if German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had also "
came to see animals
" during her January visit to the headquarters of the African Union.
AU in Ethiopia.
“
Or is the African continent, its people and its wildlife just a joke to you?
“, she added.
Confused, the German Foreign Ministry claimed to be '
sorry
' and that the tweet was '
in no way intended to offend
' anyone but to expose '
the lies Russia is using to justify its war of aggression
' in Ukraine .
"Horrible stereotypes about Africa"
“
Of which deed.
Thinking of another German race of leopards may have caused us to miss the interpretation you are picking up
on,” the ministry added to Zainab Usman, director of the Africa program at the Carnegie Endowment for International think tank. Peace, who had deemed the German tweet inelegant.
"
Using horrible stereotypes about Africa
," equated with a vast land of wild animals in the bush, "
for a political sting at an adversary in a European war will not win you African friends
," Zainab said. Usman.
