<\/p>\n

Ethiopia\u2019s President Sahle-Work Zewde has joined the chorus of support for WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWHO under Dr Tedros effective leadership, are delivering on their mandate at a time we need them most. Let\u2019s give them the space,\u201d she tweeted.<\/p>\n

Her remarks came following the US government\u2019s accusation of WHO of being biased in favour of China in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur global priority is to save lives. COVID-19 is killing many. We must support and protect the most vulnerable. Now is not the time for blame game,\u201d President Sahle-Work said.<\/p>\n

Several African leaders also rejected the criticism by the US president on the UN health agency.<\/p>\n

The presidents of Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria and Namibia, along with Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the UN Secretary General rallied in support of WHO.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurprised to learn of a campaign by the U.S. government against WHO\u2019s global leadership,\u201d said a tweet by Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission.<\/p>\n

He said the African Union fully supports the WHO and its Director-General. \u201cThe focus should remain on collectively fighting COVID-19 as a united global community. The time for accountability will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later he added: \u201cI certainly do not imply that it is WHO or Dr. Tedros that need to account in this regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rwandan President Paul Kagame tweeted that he totally agreed with the African Union leader. He said Dr. Tedros had the \u201cfull confidence and support of Africa.\u201d He added: \u201cSave us [from] too much politics, Africa does not need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a tweet that the WHO is providing \u201cexceptional\u201d and \u201cincalculable\u201d leadership, adding that international solidarity is \u201cthe most potent weapon\u201d against the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Namibian President Hage Geingob added his support for the WHO and Dr. Tedros. \u201cGlobal solidarity has become critical,\u201d he said on Twitter. \u201cLet\u2019s hold hands in this crucial moment and focus on what matters, saving lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed his support for the WHO, calling it \u201cabsolutely critical\u201d to the war against the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

He said the WHO\u2019s response can be debated after the pandemic is over. \u201cNow is not that time. Now is the time for unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on the accusation by the US government, Dr Tedros said \u201cFor us small and big is the same. For us people in the North or in the South, East or West are the same\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Tedros said he has been targeted with racist attacks and death threats as the agency became embroiled in an increasingly polarized and heated political environment worldwide.<\/p>\n

He said the personal attacks on him began more than two months ago. \u201cAbuse, or racist comments, giving me names, black or Negro \u2026 even death threats.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called for a \u201cquarantine\u201d on divisive political attacks on the novel coronavirus response. \u201cIf you don\u2019t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He called for global solidarity, warning the world\u2019s countries that they would be \u201cplaying with fire\u201d if they try to exploit the pandemic for political purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t believe in unity, please prepare for the worst to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Ethiopia\u2019s President Sahle-Work Zewde has joined the chorus of support for WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom. \u201cWHO under Dr Tedros effective leadership, are delivering on their mandate at a time we need them most. Let\u2019s give them the space,\u201d she tweeted. Her remarks came following the US government\u2019s accusation of WHO of being …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":15549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-embassy-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/td.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15550,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15548\/revisions\/15550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}