Turkey donates $1mln to AU to combat Ebola

ADDIS ABABA – Anadolu Agency

AA Photo

The Turkish government donated $1 million April 13 in support of anti-Ebola measures undertaken by the African Union (AU) Commission in the afflicted countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Turkish Ambassador to Ethiopia Osman Rıza Yavuzalp and AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko signed the agreement on the contribution, which would go to the African Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) during a brief ceremony at the headquarters of the pan-African body.

This contribution agreement brings to fruition a pledge announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the Turkey-Africa Summit, which was held in Equatorial Guinea in November, Yavuzalp, who is also permanent representative to the AU, told The Anadolu Agency.

The donation comes at a crucial time, as surveillance is being strengthened to maintain the trend of Ebola containment and reduction until the disease that killed about 10,000 people in the three most affected countries is eradicated.

This latest outbreak of the deadly virus first began in Guinea in December 2013 and quickly spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia.  
  
“The main aim [of the donation] is the three most affected countries,” Yavuzalp said. “These are brotherly countries to us like all other African countries and we want to do our share so that the Ebola outbreak in Africa is eradicated and people are no longer losing their lives,” he said.

Kaloko, for his part, told the press after the signing that Ebola was increasingly subsiding, noting intervention against Ebola should be strengthened to the maximum.