Ambassador to The Congo sounds like a sentence rather than an honored appointment.
Yep. Wonder who he pissed off !
If you are an aspiring Italian politician, you hope to be made ambassador to England, or USA, when the Premier tells you that you are next ambassador to Congo you know you have done screwed up.
You didn't really understand how badly you had screwed up because you didn't know it was a death sentence, but you screwed up.
On the other hand, he didn't understand the risks of working in Congo for years, he was a really stupid man. Maybe he was banging the daughter of the Premier of Italy, or maybe he was banging the Premier's wife, and this was a way of doing a hit on the aspiring politician.