On Hasty Imposition of Travel Bans on Countries Hard-Hit By Pandemics

Former Liberian Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan offers reflections. 

 

-- Former Liberian Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan offers reflections 

In the wake of the recent outbreak of the new Coronavirus variant, Omicron in South Africa and other southern African countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other countries have hastily imposed travel bans on all flights and/or persons traveling from South Africa and the affected countries.  South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa and many South Africans have been very vocal in their condemnation of what they consider very hasty and unfair travel restrictions.

Interestingly, when Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone were epicenters of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in 2014-2016, South Africa was one of the few African countries that hastily imposed “total travel bans” on Ebola-affected countries, preventing residents from Liberia and other Ebola-affected countries from traveling to South Africa.

At an Extraordinary Meeting of the African Union (AU) on Ebola held on September 8, 2014, former Liberian Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan passionately and eloquently protested the imposition of these hasty and harsh restrictions and indicated that countries imposing such draconian restrictions were writing the script on how they should be treated in the future if they too were to experience a major public health crisis. 

Given the developments of the past few days, former Minister Ngafuan’s speech appears to be a prophecy that has sadly come to pass. Below is an excerpt from Minister Ngafuan’s Speech at the AU Extraordinary Meeting. As we grapple tooth and nail with the killer disease, we have unfortunately been buffeted with a spate of actions ranging from the suspension of flights by commercial airlines to the refusal or reluctance of some of our fellow African countries to allow even humanitarian flights destined to our countries to refuel or make technical stops in their countries.

Some of our fellow African countries have even gone as far as imposing “total travel bans” on all persons (except their own citizens) from Liberia and other worst-hit countries. We have also had situations where Liberian students previously admitted into undergraduate and graduate programs in some African countries have been denied the opportunity to travel to pursue their education despite their willingness to subject themselves to whatever level of screening.

Liberia is troubled to note that some African countries are still frantically implementing these extremely disproportionate measures even in light of advice from the WHO and other international bodies warning against these restrictions. What is even more heart-rending and ironic is that no country in Europe, Asia, the Americas, or elsewhere has done to us what some of our fellow African countries have done to us.

Some of these countries taking these exaggerated measures do not share contiguous borders with any of the affected countries and receive far fewer travelers from our region as compared to some countries in Europe or the United States that have not imposed total travel bans on us but have instead instituted screening procedures and other safeguards at their airports and other ports of entry. Such extremely harsh measures as total travel bans border on blanket stigmatization of countries affected by Ebola. We, therefore, call on those African countries proceeding on this track to reconsider their actions.

In order to fully appreciate the moral dimensions of these overly harsh measures, we urge our brothers and sisters from those countries imposing them against Ebola-affected countries to pause for a moment and imagine what would happen if all other countries in the world were to treat Ebola-affected countries in the same way as you are doing?

While we do not contest your right to first and foremost protect the interest of your citizens and residents, we however feel that if we all should remain true to our often-touted commitment to African solidarity and the ideals of the founding fathers of the OAU/AU, you should institute measures that not only protect your own citizens and residents but also promote the greater good of African solidarity, which imposes an obligation on all African states not to make it doubly difficult for Ebola afflicted countries to quickly unshackle themselves from the grips of the deadly virus.

Yes, we deeply mourn and regret the loss of a little upwards of 2,000 persons in our region to the Ebola virus. But if we juxtapose this figure against the combined population of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (the worst affected countries) which stands above 20 million, we will quickly realize the extent of the unfairness and harshness of some of the measures and restrictions that have been imposed by some African countries.

Madam Chair, Esteemed Colleagues,

Lest we forget, up until 1976 our continent or mankind in general did not know or experience anything called Ebola. Also, up until the 1980’s, mankind did not know or experience anything called HIV/AIDS. Again, until December 2013 when a different strand of the Ebola virus emerged from the jungle and began to infect people in the remote parts of Guinea, the widely held belief was that Ebola was a Central or East African problem. So, although we pray against the outbreak of new virus diseases or the re-occurrence of old virus diseases in the future, we cannot rule out this possibility 100%, as we do not know when or where next our continent could face another major public health challenge.

Therefore, if we allow hysteria and paranoia to underpin our reactions to this Ebola outbreak, we will create a legacy of blanket stigmatization and unnecessary restrictions, which would be tantamount to unwittingly writing a dangerous prescription for how countries on our continent should be treated whenever they get afflicted with any public health challenge in the future. It is this grim possibility that we all, as African nations, must avoid by revisiting all measures that are not consistent with expert advice but only fly in the face of African solidarity and integration.

Thank You.