Egypt's foreign ministry denied on Friday that an Egyptian official insulted African colleagues by describing them as "dogs and slaves" during the United Nations Environment Assembly meeting which took place in Nairobi last week. "After an investigation conducted by the foreign ministry officials through video recordings and the sessions records, we deduced that all claims that the head of the Egyptian delegation insulted the African countries are lies," the statement said. On Sunday, head of the African Diplomatic Corps Technical Committee Yvonne Khamati presented a memo demanding that Egypt be banned from representing Africa in any official capacity after the head of the Egyptian delegation reportedly referred to Africans delegates as "dogs and slaves" during the meeting. According to Khamati, the Egyptian official allegedly used the epithet during consultation talks between Egypt, Morocco and other African delegations over a failed resolution to determine the environmental impact of latest Israeli incursion into the Palestinian Gaza Strip, a resolution which Egypt endorsed. During the meeting, Khatami told Kenyan Capital FM News on Sunday some members of the Kenyan delegation, who had previously served in Arabic-speaking countries and understood the language, were able to pick up on the epithet “dogs and slaves" reportedly used by the the Egyptian official who was upset with certain African delegations. The Egyptian delegation at the UNEA meeting was headed by Ambassador Hisham Shaeer, the assistant foreign minister for environment affairs and sustainable development. The ministry said in its Friday statement that it asked the Egyptian ambassador to Kenya to demand the removal of Khamati from her post "after the harm it caused to the Egyptian people." http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/219238.aspx
