Government goes against promise and calls African diplomats back

O Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) began the withdrawal of diplomats who were spread across African countries. Such an act goes against the promise of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government to strengthen ties with the continent’s nations.

The PT administration has already announced that at least nine representatives should return to Brazil by the middle of the year.

O Itamaraty is calling diplomats back to the country because of events that will occur in Brazil. According to representatives of the federal government, the meeting with the G20 summit, COP30 and the BRICS meeting will require the presence of diplomats.

The G20 meeting, which brings together the 19 largest economies in the world and the European Union, is scheduled for November 18th and 19th, in Rio de Janeiro. The 30th edition of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP30, will take place in Belém, capital of Pará, in November 2025. The Brics meeting is also scheduled for next year.

The complete list of diplomats expected to return to Brazil will be officially announced on May 14th.

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The decision, however, did not please African officials, who fear the lack of Brazilian representation on the continent. By law, a diplomat is authorized to stay in a country for 10 years, as long as the last four are spent in posts in the classification of those located in Africa.

In response, Itamaraty disagreed with the idea that the African continent will be harmed by the policy of removing diplomats. The ministry presented an ordinance that authorizes the stay of those who want to stay abroad even after the established time has expired. The authorization, however, is only valid for selected countries.

“Among the 22 countries covered by the exception, 13 are located on the African continent, which demonstrates the administrative effort to reverse cases of undercrowding and meet the needs for positions in the region,” wrote the ministry.

Diplomat in Africa has already received death threats

Around 15 embassies and consulates internationally are led by just one diplomat. Of this total, 11 are on the African continent. One of the representatives who operates alone stated that he had already received death threats for having denied a visa to a person who presented false documents.

The Itamaraty note states that only eight ambassadors work alone in Africa.

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Gabriel de Souza is an intern at Magazine West in Sao Paulo. Under the supervision of Anderson Scardoelli