WHO chief addresses death threats and racist insults: ‘I don’t give a damn’
William Feuer
Key Points:
- The leader of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he has received death threats and racist insults while running the global efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
- Tedros was responding to a question about whether criticism from world leaders in the midst of a global pandemic makes it more difficult for the Ethiopian leader of the WHO to operate.
(cnbc)–The head of the World Health Organization, Ethiopian microbiologist Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he has received death threats and racist insults while running the
global efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“I can tell you personal attacks that have been going on for more than two, three months. Abuses, or racist comments, giving me names, black or Negro. I’m proud of being black, proud of being Negro,” he told reporters on a conference call from the organization’s Geneva headquarters on Wednesday. “I don’t care, to be honest … even death threats. I don’t give a damn.”
Tedros was responding to a question about whether criticism from world leaders such as President Donald Trump in the midst of a global pandemic makes it more difficult to operate the WHO. Tedros commented specifically on insults that he said came from Taiwan.
“Three months ago, this attack came from Taiwan. We need to be honest. I will be straight today. From Taiwan,” he said. “And Taiwan, the Foreign Ministry also, they know the campaign. They didn’t disassociate themselves. They even started criticizing me in the middle of all that insult and slur, but I didn’t care.”
Taiwan, which is not a member of the United Nations, the governing body of the WHO, responded to Tedros’ comments, calling them “baseless” and demanding an apology. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen added on Facebook that “Taiwan has always opposed all forms of discrimination.” She also invited Tedros to visit Taiwan.
“Dr. Tedros’s unwarranted charges, made without any attempt at verification, are contrary to the facts and have caused serious damage to the government and people of Taiwan,” Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Such slander is irresponsible, and the government of Taiwan demands that the Director-General immediately correct his trumped-up claims, issue a clarification, and apologize to the people of Taiwan.
Tedros also referenced remarks made by scientists on French TV that Tedros had condemned on Monday as artifacts of a “colonial mentality.” The scientists were discussing the potential of moving a vaccine trial in Europe and Australia to Africa, according to the BBC. Tedros said Wednesday that the remarks insulted “the whole black community.”
@DrTedros said there’s “No need to use #COVID19 to score political points. We agree! Yet without evidence, #Taiwan is accused of orchestrating personal attacks. This claim is baseless, without merit & further marginalizes the good work in which the @WHO is engaged worldwide. 1/3
— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MOFA_Taiwan) April 9, 2020
Tedros also referenced remarks made by scientists on French TV that Tedros had condemned on Monday as artifacts of a “colonial mentality.” The scientists were discussing the potential of moving a vaccine trial in Europe and Australia to Africa, according to the BBC. Tedros said Wednesday that the remarks insulted “the whole black community.”
Tedros pleaded for world leaders and politicians to put aside differences and focus on the fight against the pandemic, which has now infected more than 1,452,378 people around the world and killed at least 83,615, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
“Please quarantine COVID politics. That’s what we want. We don’t care about personal attacks,” he said. “We care about the life passing every single minute unnecessarily because we couldn’t unite to fight this virus.”
African leaders rally around WHO head after Trump criticism
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – African leaders have rallied around the Ethiopian head of the World Health Organization (WHO) after U.S. President Donald Trump criticised the United Nations agency and threatened to withhold his country’s contribution to its budget.
(af.reuters)—-Trump had on Tuesday accused the WHO of being too focused on China and of issuing bad advice on the COVID-19 pandemic.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who chairs the African Union (AU), said in a statement late on Wednesday that WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had shown “exceptional leadership … from the very earliest stages of this unprecedented global health crisis.”
“The AU calls upon the international community to join hands to support the efforts of the DG and the entire WHO family as they lead global efforts to fight this pandemic,” Ramaphosa added.
“If there was a time for global unity, solidarity and cooperation, this is that time.”
Posting on Twitter, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame said the WHO chief “has the full confidence and support of Africa,” while AU Commission head Moussa Faki urged leaders to focus on fighting COVID-19 and said the time for accountability would come later.
Tedros, a former foreign minister of Ethiopia, has rejected Trump’s suggestion that the WHO has been “China-centric” in its efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
“We are close to every nation, we are colour-blind,” he said on Wednesday, adding the WHO had “kept the world informed about the latest data, information and evidence.”
China has said Tedros had played an important role in promoting international cooperation to combat the pandemic, which has infected more than 1.47 million people and killed more than 87,000, according to the latest Reuters tally.
Africa accounts for a fraction of global cases of the disease, but its countries are feeling the impact with economies expected to contract, putting about 20 million jobs at risk.
“The window for containing the virus at the subnational and national level is closing in many countries,” Tedros told diplomats in Geneva on Thursday. “The infection numbers in Africa are relatively small now, but they are growing fast.”
Reporting by Alexander Winning; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Joe Bavier and David Holmes
WHO Director Was Member of Human Rights Violating Communist Front in Ethiopia
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), addresses the media during a press conference at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020 on the situation regarding to the new coronavirus. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)(the jewish voice)–In a bombshell article written by John Martin called The Crimes Of Tedros Adhanom it is learned that the current director of the WHO, who is the first WHO director without a medical degree,was a member of Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) . Founded as a communist revolutionary party that came to power in 1991, it led a guerrilla campaign against the Mengistu dictatorship and formed a coalition with two other ethnic parties after his exile.
According to one Ethiopian newspaper, Adhanom was listed as the 3rd most important member of the politbureau standing committee in the TPLF.
Martin writes how the TPLF engaged in “systematic discrimination and human rights abuses” by refusing emergency healthcare to the Amhara ethnic group because of their affiliation with the opposition party. The Ministry of Health that oversaw these abuses was led at the time by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
After he was appointed foreign minister of Ethiopia in 2012, dissidents and journalists across the country were subjected to a brutal government crackdown
Birth rates were recorded to be significantly lower in the Amhara region compared to other regions and 2 million Amhara people “disappeared” from the subsequent population census.
Another highlight of this shocking article : In 2016, the Ethiopian government attempted to force relocate 15000 people in the Oromia region because it wanted to requisition their land. This led to mass protests followed by mass shootings and a stampede that killed 500 people according to Human Rights Watch. The government then embarked on another brutal crackdown, arresting 70,000 people.