Notwithstanding their respective high profiles in their countries, 49 African heads of states and governments had been humbled to be present in Washington DC in response to the call of President Barack Obama. Africa gives particular respect to President Obama, since he made that remarkable speech he delivered in South Africa, when he paid tribute at Nelson Mandela’s funeral with such eloquence and appreciation of the man whom his country and its western friends had once branded as a terrorist.
The main objectives of the latest summit are to review the US-African diplomatic, political, trade and security relationships. A few years back, Africa had attracted interest little more than general friendship or altruistic actions usually expressed in donor-recipient relationships.
Of late, however, Africa is being redefined as one of the fastest growing regions in the world with vast opportunity for further growth. The South-South relationship, however, seems to be a rapid catch-up on the US-African investment relationships.
Three heads of neighbouring states in West Africa were absent from the Summit because of their commitment to their people to stay around to oversee and coordinate whatever could be done to mitigate the problems of the Ebola epidemic, which is having its toll alarmingly.
There were times when the disease was only contracted from bats, baboons or pigs somewhere in the Congo. That sporadic data never made headlines until the virus of the fatal disease was discovered by a Belgian scientist named, Peter Piot. Because of its stigmatisation effect, the scientist did not name it after himself, as is normally the case of new discoveries, but named it after one of the rivers, Ebola, a river found in Zaire now known as Congo.
In the latest outbreak, the disease has killed over 936 people and contacted more than 1,600 in the three neighbouring countries Guinea, Sierra Leon and Liberia. Two medical doctors had been infected so far and are brought under the utmost care in the US.
Although the heads of states of the three neighbouring countries had met to forge a common strategy to protect their population from the fatal epidemic and contain it within their boundaries, latest information reveals that the Ebola virus has fast crossed borders to the most populous Nigeria, where eight people have been detected to have contracted the virus already. These include a Spanish priest who has been airlifted to Spain and a Saudi citizen who was believed to have contracted the virus.
The risky news has already spread worldwide, pushing the Washington talks to a limbo. This is because the African heads of states, and even the American president cannot have a more crucial and prior concern than Ebola, at this point in time. Fortunately or unfortunately, the contagious disease, which is reported to take time to identify, is spreading rapidly like a wild fire from one corner of the world to another, at an alarming speed, even faster than countries and their respective health services can have enough time to know about it and get prepared to combat the outbreak.
The Ebola syndrome had been kept under the rains of epidemic diseases for more than three decades for unexplained reasons. It was not to be found among bats, baboons or pigs. But that was only a momentary phenomenon.
Some months ago, however, Ebola has once more reappeared to the scene perhaps more fiercely than ever before. It has extended its toll even to the medical personnel who were fighting it relentlessly.
How, then, can it be prevented unless it is avoided at least for a while?
The British Airlines has cancelled its flight schedules to the Ebola affected countries, like Liberia, where state of national emergency has been proclaimed. That seems to be contrary to the objectives and aspirations of the Washington Summit where rhetoric is heard to persuade investors to go to Africa and put their money into good use.
Let us face it! Africa’s concern now is not how to attract people with money, it rather reaches far beyond. Africa has now the urgent responsibility of joining hands at a global level and does everything it can to save the lives of its people from this fatal disease.
Is there anything more important than saving life?
Africa has no time now to worry about loans or aid, good governance or anti-terrorist engagements. The fear of risk, especially Ebola’s attack on the doctors, has overwhelmed the world.
The question of “who is going to treat us?” seems to have worried more people than anything else. That worry has some truth in its outlook, given the low level of awareness about Ebola and its characteristics; the very poor conditions of public health services in most African Countries; and the situations of the other contagious diseases already existing in the densely stocked hospitals and clinics in all the underdeveloped countries in the world. Hence, getting worried about Ebola virus cannot be a luxury in light of the fast growing population and crammed duelling of the people.
Many people wonder why some carriers, like the Ethiopian Airlines, which is one of the carriers flying extensively to West Africa, particularly to those countries affected by Ebola virus, to give transit services, did not do firm measures as British Airways did. Judging by the alarming speed of the spread of the disease and the fact that its symptoms are varied, surely, a decision to continue flying could be risky.
To be honest, the risk of importing a patient to the country with or without the knowledge of the disease could be extremely dangerous and irreversible beyond what the business can fetch in terms of hard currency.
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