EDITORIAL

AFCON qualifiers:  Beyond being hospitable to Sierra Leoneans

A hilarious welcome has been served the Leone Stars, the Sierra Leone national soccer team which takes on the Indomitable Lions for the first leg qualifying rounds of the African Nations Cup, AFCON, at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium Yaounde tomorrow Saturday.

The Stars made no error in picking Yaounde as their “home” venue. The Guardian Post assures them with an assurance  of a kingly reception and support to make them feel as if they were in Freetown but urge them to take the impending defeat with equanimity.

The health precaution measures explained by the ministers of communication, Issa Tchiroma and public health, Andre Mama Fouda should not be construed as stigmatising them. It is because of the precaution to prevent the global spread of the Ebola virus that has unfortunately infected Sierra Leone that the Confederation of African Football resolved that the visitors should chose another country for their “home” matches.

In predicting defeat, we are not by any means underrating the Stars. It is a formidable team but pitted against a freshly fortified Indomitable Lions, victory is far fetched going by the evidence on the records of both squads.

The “hosts” of tomorrow’s encounter have never crossed the first round of the AFCON qualifying contest. They withdrew from contesting on four occasions in 1970, 1986, 1996 and 1998. In 2000, the civil war in the diamonds-studded country prevented them from participating.

Against the Lions, it’s like swimming against a crushing tide. The Cameroon side has won the AFCON trophy in four tournaments, it holds the African record of seven participation at the World Cup and first to get to the quarter finals of the world’s biggest football jamboree. Cameroon is also one of only two African countries that have clinched a football goal medal at the world Olympic Games.

Wouldn’t it be overzealous optimism for the Stars to expect a victory in the “home” match away from home? The best they should expect, in solidarity for the endemic virus that has infested their country is support from their Cameroonian brothers and sisters in cheering the performance. After all, the most important thing is to participate, not necessary to conquer.

They have selected Yaounde not of their own likening, but because of the Ebola epidemic which is killing daily in their country. The unprecedented outbreak of the Ebola fever is a global agony necessitating the creation of the United Nation’s Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

When the Sierra Leonean president, Ernest Bai Koroma received the UMMEER representative, Anthony Banbury, he expressed the need for urgent international assistance. "This is the time to roll up our sleeves and be visible on the ground”, the president said; adding that foreign support should provide emergency treatment centres, supporting equipment and logistics.

President Koroma is of the view that support coming in will help to maintain the kind of success story that the country was busy building when Ebola struck. He is of the firm belief that combating Ebola requires both a national and a sub-regional approach.

In siding with the president, Banbury said his visit was as a result of the severity of the situation. He stated that closer attention will be paid to the crisis by responding to the need of the affected countries and trigger the opportunities and capabilities to combat the virus.

He added that as instructed by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, they were committed to working with national governments and partners to achieve the results to contain the disease. He said they will be working with the national plan and fill in the gaps where necessary with additional logistical support, medical interventions and social mobilisation for successful implementation of the strategy. “We are here to fight Ebola”, the UN special representative told the Sierra Leonean president; emphasising on giving preference to treatment of the affected and creation of more care centres across the country.

In addition to four wheel drive vehicles being deployed, the UN representative said if possible, helicopters would be used. Banbury disclosed that his agency was also working with other UN organs like WHO, FAO and UNICEF to enhance an effective collaboration in the fight against the virus.

Cameroon, which the Sierra Leone team, has chosen for their home team, like most of the world, is scared of the Ebola virus. It has exacted and stands to exact fatal consequences especially in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone and with a much less effect in Nigeria that has contained the spread.

So scared, and rightly so have the Yaounde authorities been to the point that the border with Nigeria has been closed. The measures being taken to limit the number of the Sierra Leonean delegation to 40, screen them at the airport and take special precautions in hotels they would be lodged are in continuation of Cameroon’s preventive activities.

This is not saying Cameroonians would be scared of the players given that all of them do not live in their country. Their choice of Cameroon as home for the match, The Guardian Post believes, is an indication of the love and respect they have for Yaounde.

Cameroonians cannot reciprocate that love and goodwill at the stadium other than cheering them when they play good football, as they will do. But we at The Guardian Post believe the Cameroon government can go beyond just being hospitable to the visitors and offer material support to the Sierra Leoneans smacked back home by Ebola.

Cameroon made such a gesture when Haiti was struck by a natural disaster. It can extend a similar donation to Freetown. We are aware of the excruciating burden the government is carrying in the war against Boko Haram and hosting thousands of Nigerian and Central African Republic refugees. But that should not be an excuse not to give the Cameroon assistance to Sierra Leone.

Other countries, developed, developing or under developed are doing just that. The United States has sent military personnel and resources to coordinate international response to the Ebola virus in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.  Cameroon should, on the premise that the soccer team has picked Yaounde for its home match be counted among the donors and be part of a coordinated action by the international community to eradicate the Ebola virus.