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UK’s Foreign Secretary makes a crass, callous, and cruel joke about dead bodies in Libya

by Milicent Atieno
BORI JOHNSON

Boris Johnson, the British Foreign Secretary, is one man who wishes he could take back his words right now. This comes after he made an insensitive joke about the dead bodies in the Libyan city of Sirte.

Boris put his foot in his mouth while addressing attendees at the Conservative conference when he said:

I look at Libya, and it’s an incredible country. Bone-white sands, beautiful sea, Caesar’s Palace, obviously, you know, the real one. Incredible place. It’s got a real potential and brilliant young people who want to do all sorts of tech.

There’s a group of UK business people. Actually, some wonderful guys who want to invest in Sirte on the coast, near where Gaddafi was captured and executed as some of you may have seen.

They have got a brilliant vision to turn Sirte into the next Dubai. The only thing they have got to do is clear the dead bodies away.


For Boris to make a cheap joke about the death of other people, his sensitivity gauges must have been broke! How do you talk about other people’s fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, wives, and daughters’ deaths with zero compassion? So much for foreign secretary diplomacy.

Sirte is a coastal city in Libya and was the former stronghold of the infamous Islamic State and played host to a recent deadly battle between the Daesh fighters and the Libyan Government of National Accord. In this battle, hundreds of pro-government soldiers were kills and thousands of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.

Sirte has seen at least two massive battles happen within the last five years in which massive loss of life occurred due to the civil war in Libya.

The UK Labor shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry had the following to say about Boris distasteful joke: “For Boris Johnson to treat those deaths as a joke; a mere inconvenience before UK business people can turn the city into a beach resort – is unbelievably crass, callous, and cruel.

If these words came from the business people themselves, it would be considered offensive enough, but for them to come from the foreign secretary is simply a disgrace. There comes a time when the buffoonery needs to stop, because if Boris Johnson thinks the bodies of those brave government soldiers and innocent civilians killed in Sirte are suitable subject for throwaway humor, he does not belong in the office of foreign secretary.”

The deputy leader of Lib Dem, Jo Swinson added: “The unbelievably crass and insensitive comments” only goes to further prove Mr. Johnson is not up to the job of foreign secretary where diplomacy is a basic requirement.

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