UN: Ebola threatens world peace

(MENAFN- Arab News) UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council has called the Ebola outbreak in Africa 'a threat to international peace and security' and urged all countries to provide health experts field hospitals and medical supplies to combat the rapidly accelerating disease.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the number of Ebola cases is doubling every three weeks and is calling for a 20-fold increase in aid totaling almost $1 billion to tackle the virus' worst-ever outbreak over the next six months.

The UN chief told an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Thursday that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa 'demands the attention of the world' and 'unprecedented' action.

Ban announced that he is establishing a UN emergency mission to address the unprecedented challenge.

He thanked US President Barack Obama for sending 3000 troops to provide expertise in training and engineering read the names of about 20 other countries that have responded with contributions and urged all nations coming to the UN General Assembly ministerial meeting next week to follow suit.

The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution after the UN secretary general warned that the number of Ebola infections already more than 5000 was doubling every three weeks notably in Liberia.

The council heard a desperate appeal from Liberian medical aid worker Jackson Naimah for assistance to beat back the epidemic that has left at least 2600 dead in West Africa.

'Please send your helicopters your centers your beds and your expert personnel' said Naimah speaking on video link from Monrovia.

In its resolution the council declared that the 'unprecedented extent of the Ebola outbreak in Africa constitutes a threat to international peace and security' and warned that 'peace-building gains... could be reversed' in West Africa.

It called on countries to 'provide urgent assistance including deployable medical capabilities such as field hospitals' with staff and supplies laboratories clinics and to provide 'support capabilities for airlift.'

The measure also urged nations to lift travel and border restrictions and asked airlines and shipping companies to maintain their links with affected countries.

World Health Organization director Margaret Chan said the Ebola outbreak is 'likely the greatest peacetime challenge that the United Nations and its agencies have ever faced.'

Meanwhile Sierra Leone's normally chaotic capital resembled a ghost town on Friday as residents were confined to their homes for the start of a three-day lockdown aimed at halting the deadly Ebola epidemic.

Streets across Freetown a bustling city of 1.2 million people emptied from midnight and by dawn the rare echo of rain on tin roofs and the rumble of thunder had replaced the usual blare of motorbike horns and the din of market stall music.

"Everyone seems to be complying and this is very good. This is an important way to fight Ebola. We expect everyone to stay at home" Freetown police chief Francis Munu told AFP.

Shops and offices were shut across the city and only emergency vehicles plied streets which are normally jammed with traffic throughout the day.

Munu said his officers covering the day in two shifts of 12 hours were accompanying burial teams picking up bodies around the city and were prepared to protect them if they encountered resistance.