Brussels, 09/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Union welcomes and supports the initiative taken by the African Union (AU) to contribute to the fight against the raging Ebola epidemic which, on 5 September, had claimed over 2,000 lives and from which nearly 4,000 were suffering in West Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The African mission - Support to Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) - which the AU has just set up, will receive European financial aid of €5 million, the European Commission announced on Tuesday 9 September.
Of this €5 million, only €2 million is new funding. The other €3 million comes as part of the €140 million envelope that European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs had announced earlier, during his visit to Benin on 5 September (see EUROPE 11149).
The establishment of ASEOWA, which will have the EU's support, was announced during a meeting of the AU group of partners in Addis Ababa (the AU's headquarters in Ethiopia) the day after an AU emergency meeting to define a continental anti-Ebola strategy.
This AU mission, which has a six-month mandate, will have its headquarters in Liberia. It is intended to provide advice to the effort coordination bodies in the countries affected by the Ebola haemorrhagic fever, and to conduct joint operations with these structures in order to try and contain the spread of the disease in the region. It will also provide medical support and will help the local authorities and the international community to consolidate their control of the epidemic.
“We welcome the AU's new mission and will fully support its work. The EU stands side by side with our African partners. We all need to cooperate closely in fighting this deadly disease”, said Piebalgs.
European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva stressed this message further. “This crisis continues to deteriorate, with Ebola cases surging even in places where it was brought under control. We must join forces in the fight against this deadly epidemic. Europe's humanitarian assistance is reaching the affected areas as we speak. The needs, however, are constantly growing”, she said.
Since March, the EU has committed around €147 million to help four countries affected by Ebola (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria). Guinea and Liberia are currently the two most affected areas. The WHO has recently warned that there are fears of several million cases of infection in Liberia in the coming weeks. Senegal and the DRC have also recently been affected. (AN)