By:Attah-Effah
Badu 
Special
Representative to the UN Secretary General and 
head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER),
  Mr Anthony Banbury, has assured the
government and the people of Ghana  not  to harbour
 any  fear 
over  the  siting of its headquarters  in the country since it will not pose any risk
or danger”. 
“ I
am very confident that UNMEER will not pose any risk or danger to Ghana. On
the  contrary, if UNMEER were not here
then there would be greater risk to the people of  Ghana or other countries around the world”,
he said in an interaction with the press on Tuesday.
Commending
Ghana  for providing the platform   for the
UN to  reach the Ebola –stricken countries,
Mr  Banbury expressed satisfaction over
Ghana’s preparedness to prevent the disease from reaching its territories,
saying  “I went through controls at
airport yesterday. It was very impressive and I was glad  to see the vigilance. UNMEER will have an
even higher standard. When our staff 
travel to Ghana or any other country, we will have in place these high
standards,  working with the Minister of
Health and taking any advice he has on the standards  to advise.
“We
will have a small, light headquarters here to support the main operations
in  Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
That is where our main activities will be. There  will not be actual operations here, just the
headquarters.”
The  Special Representative to the UN Secretary
General observed that  normally when a
mission is in a country it usually means problems are happening in  the country. It is the opposite here. The
fact that this Mission is here shows the 
strength of Ghana, the hospital is well functioning, the economy is
good, the society is strong.
He reiterated
the position of President John Dramani 
Mahama at the  69th United Nations
General Assembly that the Ebola outbreak 
which has  sickened more than
6,500 people and killed over 3,000 is not a West African problem but a global
one.
“No
single state can stop this outbreak. We need an international effort. The
UN  Secretary General paid tribute to
Ghana for being the standard for the rest of the  world and the standard for what all world
leaders need to do to stop the outbreak”, the UNMEER head said.
He
noted that the President’s agreement to host the  headquarters of the mission provides a
capability for the UN to transport  supplies
for the response..
“Our
mission will work on establishing operational capacities in the countries  concerned. Providing vehicles for
transportation, supplies for the health workers, and other needs identified by
the national governments”, he said. 
Mr.
Anthony Banbury earlier  met with the
chief of Staff Mr. Prosper Bani and members of the inter-ministerial task force
on Ebola to introduce himself  and his
team formally  to  government at the Flagstaff House in Accra.
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