WWF sorry for Saudi offenses

GLAND, Switzerland, July 29 (UPI) -- Defiling the nameplate of Saudi Arabia at a U.N. climate change summit in Germany in June was unacceptable, environmental group WWF said.

An unnamed employee of the World Wide Fund for Nature at the June meeting of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change caused a stir when the employee broke the nameplate of Saudi Arabia, dropped it into a toilet and distributed photographs of the defilement, the BBC reported.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is often the target of environmental advocates.

Jim Leape, international director general of the WWF, acknowledged in a statement that the actions by the employee were "gravely offensive" to Riyadh.

"The incident was completely unacceptable under the standards of the convention and the standards of WWF," his statement read. "We have apologized formally to the UNFCCC and the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

Leape said his organization has drafted a new code of conduct for WWF employees who are attending international summits.

U.N. officials investigating the June incident in Bonn, Germany, questioned a separate WWF employee and a member of the non-governmental organization Oxfam.

Leape said in his statement that the offending employee was fired for the actions.