Over 2000 German volunteers offer to deploy to fight Ebola virus disease

New York, USA, 26 September 2014: Over 2,000 Germans have heeded the German Government’s call to register as volunteers indicating their readiness and availability for deployment to fight against the Ebola Virus disease outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier infomed African Union Commission Chairperson HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma after briefing him on the AU’s ongoing efforts to fight the disease. They met in the sidelines of the 69th UN General Assembly in New York.

The AUC Chairperson laid out to the German Foreign other measures taken by the AU to fight the pandemic, highlighting the potential socio-economic impact that would follow the outbreak of the disease. She appealed for massive awareness-raising and called for rapid proactive response to the aftermath.

Dr. Dlamini Zuma welcomed the offer from the German government and hoped there would be proper coordination to ensure that the situation is brought under control soonest.

The German offer was publicly announced during a High Level Summit on Ebola, convened by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, during which many other UN Member States and partners announced contributions toward fighting the Ebola Virus Disease.

Dr. Dlamini Zuma and Dr. Steinmeier also discussed the situations in Ukraine, Libya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, amongst others.