<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Romania has recalled its ambassador to Kenya and apologised after he compared Africans to monkeys.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dragos Tigau made the comments during a meeting at a UN building in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, on April 26.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the AFP news agency, Mr Tigau said "the African group has joined us" when he saw a monkey outside a window.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Tigau's behaviour was first made public on Thursday by Kenyan foreign affairs official Kamau Macharia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Twitter Mr Macharia said he was left "appalled and disgusted" by the incident, and claimed that attempts were made to cover up Mr Tigau's behaviour.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">African diplomats on Friday demanded a public apology, according to Kenya's Standard newspaper, insisting that a private apology was not enough.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Saturday, Romania announced that it had only been informed of the incident this week and had now begun "a procedure to recall its ambassador".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We deeply regret this situation and offer our apologies to all those who have been affected," the statement from Romania's foreign affairs ministry read.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Any behaviours or comments of a racist nature are completely unacceptable," it added, saying it hoped it would not affect its ties with African countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Romania mainly engages with African nations through its membership of the European Union, but it has bilateral trade deals with Egypt among others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kenyan government has not commented on the decision to recall Mr Tigau.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Romanian media have criticised his behaviour, and say this is not the first time the country has been embarrassed by insults dished out by diplomats.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2014, Romania's ambassador to Armenia was recalled after making anti-Semitic jokes about Jewish bosses and questioning the morality of same-sex relationships.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The following year, Bucharest apologised after invitations to a reception at its Paris embassy accidentally included unflattering descriptions of some guests - labelling them "ghastly" and "undesirable" among other things. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>