Border Security Matters Aug 2014

According to a dispatch from the
Guinean Capital, Conakry, Heads of
State and Government of the MRU
at an extraordinary summit recently
agreed in a Joint Declaration, among
other things, to impose a cross-border
isolation zone at the epicenter of the
outbreak, considered the world’s worstever
outbreak of the disease.
“We have agreed to take important
and extraordinary actions at the inter
country level to focus on cross-border
regions that have more than 70 percent
of the epidemic,”
the dispatch quotes Ambassador Dr.
Kaba Hadja Saran Daraba, Secretary
General of the MRU, who read the Joint
Declaration.
“These areas will be isolated by police
and the military. The people in these
areas being isolated will be provided
with material support,” she said, adding,
“The health care services in these zones
will be strengthened for treatment,
testing and contact tracing to be done
effectively.”
Dr. Saran Daraba did not specifically
outline the exact area to be part of the
isolation zone, but said the epicenter of
the outbreak has a diameter of almost
300 kilometers (185 miles), spreading
from Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone
to Macenta in southern Guinea, and
taking in most of Liberia’s extreme
northern forests.
“The healthcare services in these zones
will be strengthened for treatment,
testing and contact tracing to be
carried out effectively,” she said.
The MRU leaders also agreed to
provide health personnel incentives,
treatment and protection so they could
come back to work. “We will ensure
the security and safety of all national
and international personnel supporting
the fight against Ebola,” the leaders
assured.
Considering Ebola as an international
problem that requires an international
response, the MRU leaders committed
themselves to doing their part to
bring the Ebola outbreak to an end
as soon as possible. However, they
urged the International Community to
support Member States build capacity
for surveillance, contact tracing, case
management and laboratory capacity.
“We the Heads of State want to assure
the international community that the
disease is not being exported,” the
Joint Declaration stated, assuring the
International Community that the
countries have instituted measures at
international ports of entry/exit.
The MRU leaders committed
themselves to mobilize private and
public sectors to work in synergy and
increase sensitization efforts to enable
communities to understand the Ebola
disease for effective and efficient
eradication.
They further pledged to strengthen the
surveillance of cross border movement
through information sharing on
screening of passengers, among others.
Opening the summit, the World Health
Organization (WHO) Director General
Margaret Chan termed the first outbreak
of Ebola virus disease in West Africa
as “unprecedented”, accompanied by
unprecedented challenges, which are
extraordinary.
Dr. Chan frankly told the MRU leaders
that the outbreak was moving faster
than efforts of control it. She was
providing the MRU leaders with some
frank assessment of the situation.
“If the situation continues to deteriorate,
the consequences can be catastrophic
in terms of lost lives but also severe
socio-economic disruption and a high
risk of spread to other countries,” Dr.
Chan said. She described the outbreak
as “by far the largest ever in the nearly
four decade history of this disease”.
“It is taking place in areas with fluid
population movements over porous
borders, and it has demonstrated
its ability to spread via air travel,
contrary to what has been seen in past
outbreaks,” she told the summit. “Cases
are occurring in rural areas which are
difficult to access, but also in densely
populated
capital cities.
This meeting
must mark a
turning point
in the outbreak
response.”
In addition, the
WHO Director
General said,
“the outbreak
is affecting a
large number
of doctors,
nurses and
other health
care workers, one of the most essential
resources for containing an outbreak,”
adding, “These tragic infections and
deaths significantly erode response
capacity.”
She stressed that the situation in West
Africa is of international concern and
must receive urgent priority for decisive
action at national and international
level.
Meanwhile, the MRU leaders used the
summit to launch a US$100 million (€75
million) action plan that will see several
hundred more personnel deployed in
the affected countries to supplement
overstretched treatment facilities.
Of greatest need are clinical doctors
and nurses, epidemiologists, social
mobilization experts, logisticians and
data managers, among others to battle
the epidemic.
President Alpha Conde, who is also the
Chairman MRU, was mandated by the
MRU members to convey the message
of the Union related to Ebola to the U.S.
-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington
that began yesterday.
All the MRU leaders signed for their
respective countries except for Côte
d’Ivoire who was represented by the
Health Minister Dr. Raymonde Goudou
Coffie.
The National Security and Resilience
Consortium Global Threat Directorate
led the internationally acclaimed
2012 Olympic security coordination
planning, the design of the National
Olympic Coordination Centre, the safety
and security concept for the hugely
successful 2014 Brazil World Cup and
crisis management implementation
across the oil and gas sector in the
Middle East.
Border Security Matters
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