Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – An African Union (AU) official has filed a complaint against Mauritius for harassment and deportation, following his ordeal during a recent trip to Port Louis, the Mauritian capital.
The top AU Commission Departmental Planning Expert, who visited Mauritius on an official mission, was tested on arrival for Ebola because his official travel documents indicated he traveled to Nigeria on August 17.
The Nigerian national (names withheld) was deported alongside a senior Rwandan government official, the chief executive officer of a state-run Internet firm in Kigali, who had also visited Senegal.
Both Nigeria and Senegal are among the West African countries affected by Ebola, though on a much lower scale than the disease’s epicentres of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Mauritian authorities issued deportation orders immediately after declaring the Nigerian national a persona non-grata and directed all security officials to strictly monitor his movements at the airport.
The AU official’s diplomatic passport, the AU Laissez Passé and his Nigerian passport were all seized before he was led to what he described as a “dirty guest house”, pending his deportation to the AU Commission’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Despite the fact that both the AU and Rwandan officials tested negative to Ebola, the AU official was still a subject of serious violation of personal rights and diplomatic protocol.
In an official Memorandum addressed to the AU Commissioner for Infrastructure Elham Ibrahim, the AU official complained against Mauritius for issuing harsh directives for his harassment.
The AU official appealed to the AU Commission to follow up with Mauritius on what he termed “unacceptable conduct towards the personnel of the AU Commission”.
The official said contrary to the humiliating treatment to which he was subjected in Port Louis, he received very good treatment on arrival at the United Arab Emirates while under deportation.
At a recent emergency meeting, the AU’s Executive Council, grouping the organisation’s 54 Ministers of Foreign Affairs, agreed on effective response mechanisms against Ebola, which exclude travel restrictions and border closures.
By its action, Mauritius, which pulled out of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers after blocking the Sierra Leonean National team from entering its territory, appears not to pay attention to the ongoing solidarity diplomatic efforts with the countries hit by the disease.
