{"id":5773,"date":"2026-07-30T23:00:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T23:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/07\/30\/us-government-map-of-africa-mislabels-every-country-at-global-conference\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T23:00:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T23:00:47","slug":"us-government-map-of-africa-mislabels-every-country-at-global-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=5773","title":{"rendered":"US government map of Africa\u00a0mislabels every country at global conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"449b73e5-faab-4793-b4e7-402dd5659040\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A screen shows a U.S. government map of Africa with mislabeled countries during a State Department presentation at a global conference \" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/eb34949bd80526f85bab8ff52df3d676df421fd1\/0_0_4032_3024\/master\/4032.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"348.75\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">The map presented in Brazil on Sunday showed a landlocked Nigeria in the Sahara and placed Mozambique in the Horn of Africa.<\/span> Photograph: Picture obtained by Reuters\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"449b73e5-faab-4793-b4e7-402dd5659040\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">The map presented in Brazil on Sunday showed a landlocked Nigeria in the Sahara and placed Mozambique in the Horn of Africa.<\/span> Photograph: Picture obtained by Reuters\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">US government map of Africa\u00a0mislabels every country at global conference<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>State department \u2018takes full responsibility\u2019 for erroneous, widely shared chart displayed at Aids conference in Brazil<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A US government map of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/africa\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Africa<\/a> mislabeled every country during a state department presentation at a \u2060global conference in Brazil \u2060this week, \u200bcausing a stir among attenders who took screenshots and posted them online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Reuters viewed a video of the presentation given at the Aids 2026 conference in \u2060Rio de Janeiro, which shows the errant map displayed halfway during a presentation about the state department\u2019s new health agreements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A Reuters analysis found the image of the map included \u2060in the presentation contained an artificial intelligence watermark that signals it was made with OpenAI tools. The \u200bcompany said it was investigating the report.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The state \u200cdepartment said it took \u201cfull responsibility\u201d \u200cfor the confusion caused and that the map had been produced by a team member who hastily changed \u200cthe slide deck before the event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The map showed Nigeria, where the US currently has several hundred troops deployed, as landlocked in the Sahara desert. Mozambique, which is in south-eastern Africa, was relocated to the Horn of Africa, while C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire in west Africa was placed on the other side of the continent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Screenshots of the map first appeared in a Substack post by the Aids expert Emily Bass and were widely \u200cshared on LinkedIn, with one post garnering about 40,000 views.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cWhoever created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to \u200bcheck their work,\u201d wrote Matt Petit, who focuses on AI and geopolitics at the Atlantic Council, in the post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In a statement, the state department said: \u201cWe take full responsibility for the confusion and misrepresentation it caused for attendees, including our African partners.\u201d The speaker at the conference was Jeff Graham, the \u2060top US health envoy who oversees the initiative known as the President\u2019s Emergency Plan \u200bfor Aids Relief, or Pepfar. He \u200bdid not reply to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The \u200bstate department said the discussions at the conference were \u201csubstantive and constructive\u201d despite the map \u200band that it remained \u200ccommitted to fighting Aids \u200bwith real results. The \u200bTrump administration\u2019s decision last year to pause funding pending a review disrupted aid programs worldwide but Pepfar\u2019s core work such as the provision of life-saving drugs has largely resumed. The US is scaling back other areas of its spending including on prevention and surveillance, and plans to fully phase out the program in South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-foreign-policy\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US foreign policy<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/world\/africa\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Africa<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/society\/aids-and-hiv\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Aids and HIV<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=US%20government%20map%20of%20Africa%C2%A0mislabels%20every%20country%20at%20global%20conference&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/30\/government-map-mislabels-african-countries?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fjul%2F30%2Fgovernment-map-mislabels-african-countries&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/jul\/30\/government-map-mislabels-african-countries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The map presented in Brazil on Sunday showed a landlocked Nigeria in the Sahara and placed Mozambique in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}