Don't stigmatize Guinea for Ebola, FM tells world

CONAKRY

The Guinean government is working – on multiple levels – to fight a deadly Ebola outbreak on its home soil. But it is now also preoccupied with shedding the stigma faced by its citizens overseas due to fears they may be carrying the deadly virus, the country's top diplomat has said.

"There is no reason why our citizens abroad are immediately indexed as 'carriers of the Ebola virus.' The epidemic is in Guinea, it is true, but that does not mean that all Guineans have contracted the virus," Foreign Minister François Lonseny Fall told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.

"Stop stigmatizing us! I address this appeal to all those who make it a recurring practice around the world," he said.

Last month, the Guinean government made a similar appeal during a meeting of the Council of African Union Foreign Ministers. It has also raised the issue at recent United Nations meetings.

"We manage this situation effectively in coordination with our diplomatic services and through the efforts of President Alpha Conde, who has made several trips to France and the United States to mobilize the international community," Fall added.

In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has killed around 4,912 people in West Africa, including nearly 926 in Guinea alone, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The virus has also reared its head in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in other countries outside Africa.

A tropical fever that first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have died of the virus.

Improvement

The minister went on to pay tribute to the success of a containment drive launched in Guinea, where the Ebola outbreak was first recorded. He pointed out that the spread of the virus was much slower in Guinea than in neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Fall described some of the restrictions issued by certain countries on travel to and from Guinea – and other Ebola-hit countries – as "unreasonable."

This "quarantine," he said, had not helped slow the spread of the disease, but, rather, had had adverse economic effects.

"We understand some preventive measures [by certain countries] to prevent the spread of the disease, but the problem should not be exaggerated to the point that some countries have gone as far as to close their borders with Guinea," the minister said.

Fall pointed out that his ministry's diplomatic efforts had helped prompt the WHO and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to declare that border closures were "counter-productive."

"This announcement was backed by France and the U.S., and the Ivory Coast has announced the resumption of flights with Guinea. The African Union and the United Nations also called for not isolating Guinea," he said.

Fall, however, expressed optimism regarding the ability of his country to absorb the short-term damage caused by the Ebola outbreak.

"The stigma of Guineans will end the day the WHO declares that the outbreak is defeated. That day, Guinea will recover," he asserted.

"This is not the first time that the epidemic appeared in Africa. Other countries have seen it several times, including Uganda. Ebola in Congo appeared two times in succession. The Gabon has also had experience [with the virus]," he said.

"If all these countries have been able to recover, why not Guinea?" the foreign minister asked.

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