The U.S. State Department said ​it takes “full responsibility” for “hastily” altering and then presenting a map of Africa at the 26th International AIDS Conference this week. In a statement, the State Department said: “We take full responsibility for ​the confusion and misrepresentation it ​caused for attendees, including ⁠our African partners.” The State Department said ​it takes "full responsibility" for "hastily" altering and then presenting a map of Africa at a global AIDS conference that mislabeled every single country it highlighted. Former U.S. diplomat Alan Eyre, the first-ever Persian language spokesperson at the State Department (a position formed in 2011 to communicate with Iranians), replied: “On the plus side, it was the right continent.” (The State Department says it does not disclose ​details of bilateral ​negotiations.)