Us Government’s Map Of Africa Mislabels Every Country Sparking Confusion At Global Conference

A U.S. State Department position astatine a world convention successful Brazil this week caused wide embarrassment aft a map of Africa displayed during nan arena mislabeled each state connected nan continent.

The gaffe, which occurred during nan AIDS 2026 convention successful Rio de Janeiro, quickly drew attraction from attendees who captured screenshots and shared them online.

Reuters viewed a video of nan presentation, which showcased nan erroneous representation midway done a chat astir nan State Department's caller wellness agreements.

The representation image included an artificial intelligence watermark, indicating it was generated utilizing OpenAI tools. The institution has since stated it is investigating nan report.

The State Department said it took "full responsibility" for nan disorder and said nan representation was produced by a squad personnel who hastily altered nan descent platform earlier nan event.

The inaccuracies were stark: Nigeria, wherever nan US maintains a subject presence, was depicted arsenic landlocked successful nan Sahara Desert. Mozambique, located successful southeastern Africa, was relocated to nan Horn of Africa, while Ivory Coast successful West Africa was inexplicably placed connected nan other broadside of nan continent.

‘Did not attraction to cheque their work’

Screenshots of nan representation first surfaced successful a Substack station by AIDS master Emily Bass and quickly gained traction connected LinkedIn, pinch 1 station accumulating astir 40,000 views.

Matt Petit, an master connected AI and geopolitics astatine nan Atlantic Council, commented successful nan post, "Whoever created and approved this descent did not cognize wherever countries successful Africa are and did not attraction to cheque their work."

In a statement, nan State Department said: "We return afloat work for nan disorder and misrepresentation it caused for attendees, including our African partners."

The speaker astatine nan convention was Jeff Graham, nan apical U.S. wellness envoy who oversees an inaugural known arsenic nan President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, aliases PEPFAR. He did not reply to requests for comment.

The State Department said nan discussions astatine nan convention were "substantive and constructive" contempt nan representation and that it remains committed to fighting AIDS pinch existent results.

The Trump administration's determination past twelvemonth to region backing pending a reappraisal disrupted assistance programs worldwide but PEPFAR's halfway activity specified arsenic nan proviso of life-saving narcotics has mostly resumed.

The U.S. is scaling backmost different areas of its spending including connected prevention and surveillance, and plans to afloat shape retired nan programme successful South Africa.