(task) Journey to the Center of an Epidemic GRS Africa RSs and RI Ebola

Journey to the Center of an Epidemic

From New York to Brussels to Dakar to Monrovia: Day One of the trip to see Ebola-ravaged Liberia, up close and personal.

BY LAURIE GARRETT NOVEMBER 3, 2014

MONROVIA, Liberia — The journey to Liberia tests the mettle of any American wanting to help the nation in its Ebola crisis. The trek really begins with fears about how the Samaritan will be received once he or she returns from the epidemic, facing quarantines and stigma. And the first leg lands the traveler in a political and cultural climate in steamy West Africa marked by resilience in the face of genuine threat.
As I prepared to come to Liberia, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued tough mandatory quarantine edicts for medical volunteers returning from Liberia, Guinea, or Sierra Leone, and nurse Kaci Hickox spent days inside a tent in Newark despite having tested negative for Ebola infection. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered mandatory quarantines of soldiers returning from a tour of Ebola duty. And the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued far less stringent guidelines for most travelers from the Ebola-hit countries, under which it seemed I would face little more than daily temperature checks upon return. I delayed my departure in hopes of gaining clarity, but left without knowing how long I may be confined, if at all.
In my case the uncertainty is inconvenient, but ultimately it won't affect my financial or personal well-being in any way. But many physicians, nurses, and students of medicine as well as public health employees, officials, and volunteers fear difficulties with their jobs, hospital affiliations, or, for example, having their studies interrupted if a leave of absence for Ebola service ends up extending upon return. And these fears and uncertainties are having consequences -- very real ones. In meetings just prior to my departure with top officials in Washington, I learned that would-be volunteers were cancelling plans to fight Ebola due to quarantine concerns and because insurance companies were cancelling medevac coverage.
On the latter I, too, found medevac guarantees all but impossible to obtain. One provider, AIG, cancelled all medevac provisions outright a few days before my departure, and all others claim the right of force majeure, allowing them to void contract provisions under extreme conditions. Many medical volunteers face the same predicament -- even if they work for such organizations as Doctors Without Borders or the International Medical Corps. State Department officials told me last Tuesday that they are scrambling to increase the government's medevac capacity, but right now have only one Gulfstream jet and an evacuation unit that can accommodate a single patient. At the Department of Defense, I learned that the Pentagon hopes to build a four-patient medevac unit, but it does not now exist.
So American Ebola-fighters now face three fearsome challenges: death from viral infection, lack of clear routes of return to the United States should they become infected here in West Africa, and forced quarantine and stigmatization once they get home.
Once those hurdles are overcome psychologically -- and it's decided that the journey's goal, the Ebola fight, still outweighs the risks of infection, the inability to medevac home, and the quarantine and stigma that potentially await -- the trip offers its own set of challenges. Only two commercial airlines still fly a couple of times a week to each of the Ebola-stricken countries: Brussels Airlines and Royal Air Maroc -- the former routes through Belgium, the latter via Casablanca. I chose the Belgians.
The 28-hour trip included a seven-hour layover in the Brussels airport and a 90-minute stop in Dakar. In addition to regular luggage, it was necessary to pack extra supplies for this trip, including sufficient hand wipes, masks, gloves, and other such protective gear -- enough to incur $150.00 in overweight baggage fees. The airport security check at JFK featured a 40-minute grilling from TSA, which included questions like: why I was going to the epidemic, whom I did I plan to see, and what I did I plan to do in Liberia.
At the boarding gate in Brussels I was given a fact sheet on Ebola, detailing my risks and the symptoms I should pay heed to.
At the boarding gate in Brussels I was given a fact sheet on Ebola, detailing my risks and the symptoms I should pay heed to.
I spoke with several Brussels Airlines employees, both on the planes and at the Brussels airport, and found them to be proud that their company remained the last European carrier willing to service the epidemic-hit countries. And it seems to be good business for the airline, as each leg of the journey the flights were sold-out.
On board the Brussels-to-Dakar leg, I was given several forms to fill out, one of which asked if I had attended any funerals recently, if anyone had vomited upon me, or if I had lost a family member to Ebola. "Have there been suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola Fever declared in your family or in your neighborhood?" it asked. Though the virus has infected one human being who now resides in Bellevue Hospital in New York, I could happily check the "no" box for all such queries.
Aboard the Africa-destined flight, I strolled the aisles taking note of fellow passengers -- most of them Americans and Liberians. Many conferred over blueprints of ETUs (Ebola Treatment Units) or spreadsheets of patient data. Some compared notes on prior voluntary service in Africa. As I passed two men staring at an ETU layout I overheard one say, "So, the green zone is here. Be clear about that." (The "green zones" indicate the areas populated with workers and visitors; the "red zones" indicate where the infected persons are.) I returned to my seat to devour a brilliant Natacha Tatu piece in Le Nouvel Observateur, "Ebola: en Guinée, au coeur de la course contre la mort," telling the saga of Doctors Without Borders' battle against the virus in Guinea. And then I read pop star Angélique Kidjo's New York Times op-ed, "Don't Let Ebola Dehumanize Africa." Behind me, two well-dressed Liberians discussed the "horror and disrespect" of false rumors about Ebola and travelers, clucking and saying, "It is very bad, very bad," repeatedly. Feeling depressed, I turned to the movie offerings, selecting Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but it opened with a lengthy montage on a plague that overran the planet, obliterating most Homo sapiens.
Liberia is a nation so lacking in electricity that our plane's nighttime landing swoops into pitch-black darkness -- only the landing lights visible. On the only plane arriving for two days to Monrovia's Roberts Airport we offloaded onto the tarmac and were ushered to our first chlorine wash, compelled before entry into the terminal. The crowded baggage claim area was filled with Americans, including about a dozen unarmed U.S. soldiers dressed in camouflage uniforms. Everybody claimed unusually large amounts of luggage, including boxes and crates full of personal protective equipment, medical supplies, and special gear relevant to their respective duties in the Ebola fight. We collectively craned necks in search of our bags as the heat and humidity of Liberia drained what energy the 28-hour journey had failed to sap up.
During my first morning on the ground I was met with the African smells and sights I have known so well during my three decades of travel on this continent, but with one crucial difference -- no hugging, wild gesticulations, comradely macho handshakes, or girlish kiss-kiss greetings.
The well-paved Monrovia streets buzzed with commerce but humanity felt unusually stiff and aloof by African standards.
The well-paved Monrovia streets buzzed with commerce but humanity felt unusually stiff and aloof by African standards.
Everywhere one looks, Ebola warning signs can be seen declaring the virus "is real" and that danger lurks in funeral ceremonies and with every touch. The faint odor of chlorine is pervasive, as hand wash stations are at nearly every commercial and government portal. In the most densely populated neighborhood, the shanty slum of West Point, a Red Cross vehicle causes consternation when it blocks traffic, but the riots of September from slum residents are no more. When the Red Cross volunteers appear from a tin shack carrying a full body bag the congested area hushes and residents whisper among themselves, while traffic yields to the exiting van. Moments later a throng of some 30 teenagers dressed in brand-new white T-shirts blocks the narrow West Point main road, holding Ebola banners meant to raise public awareness and chanting, "Liberian people -- Ebola is here!"
But despite all of these Ebola-isms the mood in this country is cautiously optimistic. Ambulance drivers who hauled 150 disease victims daily to ETUs now say somewhat grudgingly that business is off -- fewer than 10 calls come in per day for their services. For the first time since July, the ETUs have empty beds. And the population, which as of Oct. 31 finished the three-day national campaign called Fasting and Prayer to Stop Ebola, dares to believe God has heard their cries.
Whether or not Liberia now has Ebola on the run will not be certain for several days, as teams of U.S. CDC epidemiologists and their Liberian counterparts scour remote communities all over this country in search of hidden disease victims, embers for fresh outbreaks.
But one thing is clear: Life goes on in impoverished Liberia in the face of this calamitous epidemic.
Laurie Garrett is in West Africa covering the Ebola epidemic and will be reporting regularly from the ground over the next two weeks.
Laurie Garrett
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apeters 4 hours ago
Thanks for this excellent article; I too hope the epidemic in Liberia is waning.

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DarkLordLarry 20 hours ago
Praying for your safety, Laurie! (And for the people of West Africa.) Thanks for your courage, and the clarity with which you have written.

It's encouraging that the epidemic in Liberia does seem to be waning. Praying that the next few days bring good news.

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DISPATCH
The Gangs of Iraq

Marauding pro-government militias are using the fight against the Islamic State as a pretext to destroy Sunni Arab communities across the country.

BY TIRANA HASSAN NOVEMBER 3, 2014

ERBIL, Iraq — Behind the relative safety of the large concrete blast walls, a Kurdish Peshmerga commander sat behind a dark wooden desk and described the situation in the battle-scarred towns in Iraq's northern province of Salahaddin.
"There is no one left in any of these villages, they are all empty," he told me.
This was not entirely true. As my colleague and I drove into the village of Yengija, some 50 miles south of Peshmerga-controlled Kirkuk, in an area controlled by the Islamic State until late August, the streets were packed -- but not with residents.
Men who looked like soldiers lined the main street, scores of them, standing at attention with AK-47 assault rifles slung over their shoulders. With U.S.-provided Humvees parked along the side of the street, it looked like a military parade was about to start. But there was nothing official about this army. The men bore no insignia of Iraq's armed forces: Most had on mismatched military fatigues, while some wore black balaclavas printed with a menacing skeleton face. From their slender frames, it looked like some were no more than 16 or 17.
It was only when we saw the bright yellow flags flying from a checkpoint and burned-out buildings that we realized who these armed men were. They were part of the Saraya al-Khorasani Brigade, one of the many Shiite militias that have assumed a national military role since the Iraqi government's security forces crumbled this summer, fleeing their positions as the Islamic State fighters swept through Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.
The Khorasani Brigade is a relatively recent addition to the network of Shiite militias in Iraq -- and despite a similar sounding name, has no connection to the Khorasan Group, the alleged al Qaeda-affiliated organization that was the target of U.S. airstrikes in Syria in September. The Khorasani Brigade is just one of dozens of similar militias that are essentially running their own show in parts of the country. These Shiite militias are supplied with weapons and equipment from the central government in Baghdad, which is now being assisted by a U.S.-led military alliance in its fight against the Islamic State.
These militias' actions will only exacerbate Iraq's existing sectarian tensions. The country is no stranger to sectarian violence: Its Shiite population suffered for decades under the oppressive rule of Saddam Hussein, and after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 the country spiraled into a cycle of revenge violence, culminating in a bloody civil war in 2006 and 2007. Many accused the largely autocratic rule of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of fueling sectarian flames.
While the Iraqi central government has virtually no formal authority over the militias, who act as a law unto themselves, some key politicians in Baghdad have strong alliances to individual militias. In October, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi appointed Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban -- a prominent member of the Badr Organization, a Shiite political group that controls one of the largest and most infamous militias -- as interior minister.
Despite being almost completely unaccountable to any official ministry, the Shiite militias have been tasked by the government with a key role in the war against the Islamic State.
Despite being almost completely unaccountable to any official ministry, the Shiite militias have been tasked by the government with a key role in the war against the Islamic State. Yet what we saw in Yengija laid bare the costs of relying on these groups. Beyond the main road, an entire neighborhood of two-story homes was razed and flattened, with concrete slab roofs heaped atop piles of rubble. Personal belongings, children's toys, and furniture peeked out from under the debris, a poignant reminder of the Sunni Arab families who, until recently, had lived there. All these families had fled in August when the militia started battling the Islamic State fighters in the surrounding area.
The destruction was overwhelming. The only houses that remained standing shared one common feature -- blackened exterior windows showing where the militia had set fire to them in their efforts to destroy whatever they could not loot.
Families that had been driven from their homes told us that when the militia arrived, they destroyed the families' homes. Former residents told us that those who have tried to return are accused of being Islamic State members or sympathizers; some were held by the militia for days, blindfolded, questioned, and beaten -- or simply disappeared. In the Peshmerga-controlled city of Kirkuk, we met Hamad, a government worker from Yengija. He told us that he had snuck back into the village undetected two weeks earlier to try to collect some of his family's belongings after being told by neighbors that his home was undamaged. But when he arrived, he found his house emptied of its valuables and his neighborhood torched.
The militia had made no effort to conceal its crimes, but instead advertised their destruction by spray-painting "Khorasani" and Shiite slogans on the walls that were still standing.
In a back corner of the village, Kurdish Peshmerga forces have established a small base from which they control a small residential quarter. It seemed their only common goal with the Shiite militia was repelling the Islamic State. As the Khorasani Brigade turned their efforts toward driving out the Sunni Arab population that lived in the town, the Kurdish forces found themselves outnumbered and powerless to intervene. The Peshmerga commander told us that the Shiite militia will not allow his forces to enter areas where they exercise control.
As we walked around the handful of streets under Peshmerga control, the air became filled with smoke as the Khorasani Brigade set more houses on fire.
As we walked around the handful of streets under Peshmerga control, the air became filled with smoke as the Khorasani Brigade set more houses on fire. Approaching one, we could still see the stain where the militia had poured the kerosene they used to start the fire. It was deliberate and precise. As we watched the smoke billow from one house, its mud brick walls collapsed in front of us. There is little chance that Yengija's residents will ever return here. If any do, they will find that where they formerly lived and worked is now a scene of utter destruction.
What we saw at Yengija was not at all unique. During our visit to a makeshift camp at the foot of nearby hills, we met dozens of displaced families from more than 20 predominantly Sunni villages within a 10-mile radius of Yengija. They all provided similar, chilling accounts of the systematic destruction of their villages by government-backed militias determined to prevent Sunni Arabs from returning. Hundreds of families have been left homeless, and are now taking shelter in abandoned factories, in graveyards, and under cars and trucks. They were pushed from their homes by the Islamic State, but are prevented from returning by these militia groups.
"I took my family out to protect them from ISIS," Ahmed, a young business owner from the nearby village of Hufriyah, told me. "I didn't realize that the people who came to fight ISIS were going to be the ones we would need protection from."
There is mounting evidence that Iraq's Shiite militias are using the fight against the Islamic State as cover for a campaign of sectarian violence targeting Sunni Arab communities. The Baghdad authorities have turned a blind eye to these militias' crimes, while foreign governments have ignored the militias' use of their military aid to pursue their campaign against Sunni Arabs. If the central Iraqi government doesn't rein in Shiite militias and hold them and their commanders to account for their crimes -- including war crimes -- Iraq may enter even more terrible times.
As Shiite militias reportedly prepare to launch an offensive south of the predominantly Sunni city of Tikrit, which was captured by the Islamic State in June, it seems likely that they will leave similar patterns of destruction and displacement in their wake. A small window of opportunity still remains to halt the militias' rampage of retribution. But unless the government and its foreign allies seize their chance to put a halt to this destruction, Iraq may yet slide into a new abyss of sectarian violence and revenge killings.
Wathiq Khuzaie /Getty Images
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marty martel 2 hours ago
Violence begets violence. Most of the high profile Sunnis attacks kill Shiites by the dozens in Iraq and that violence begets violence by Shiite militias which is the only force standing between Sunni fundamentalists and ordinary Shiite communities.

Western news media needs to take note of far more violent Sunni terrorist attacks and realize that Shiites are far more moderate tha their Sunni Wahabi counterparts.

Wiitness how IS is carrying out wholescale massacres of minorities in the territories they capture - Only way is to fight back with whatever means available to Shiites before they become corps at the hands of Sunni Wahabis.

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KenSouthwood 3 hours ago
So now we are joined in the fight between Sunnis and Shiites. This is no fight of ours. We must make it clear we are against terrorism, not any sect of Islam. Which means condemning this terrorist act And not commit terrorist acts ourselves.

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Mohammed Rasool 3 hours ago
Dear Fellow readers - allow me please to remind you one more time that the biggest supporters and exporters of terrorsim in the world which are Saudiya Arabiya rulers own up to 50% of all dominant Western media including but not limited to Yahoo , Fox news , Reuters , associated press And that is why you see such sick cheap articles trying to defame the brave shiite men who are sacrificing their lives to defend their country and honor

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Mohammed Rasool 3 hours ago
You cheap paid for writers of this article - you are trying to show these brave Shiite men who are trying to defend their country against the invasion of the barbarians of Islamic state as the Aggressors So shame on you Really really shame on you - But let me tell you that we know why you are doing this - You are doing this because the biggest supporters and exporters of terrorism in the world which are Saudiya Arabiya rulers are paying you very well to make propoganda for the monsters of Islamic state

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musicmaster 5 hours ago
Unfortunately it is happening both ways: Shiite villages conquered by ISIS don't fare much better. Anyone who has read the stories about how Sunni villagers contributed to the ISIS campaign against the Yazidi understands that the problem is broader.

Fact is that those militias are a major source of military support for the government - so it won't be easy to get rid of them. This is a dirty war and that will demand careful manoeuvring by the Western countries trying to influence the outcome.

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ObWindy 3 hours ago
@musicmaster You're right, but there is a but...

Government forces are not supposed to be doing the same things as ISIS, otherwise what'd be the difference?

more importantly as Kampuchea Krom put it:

"Seems like a surefire way to ensure a steady stream of ISIS recruits."

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Kampuchea Krom 5 hours ago
Seems like a surefire way to ensure a steady stream of ISIS recruits.

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Davidhillel 11 hours ago
There are millennium old issues to be resolved in "Iraq".

The state that was created out of the greed of the British and the French when they "won" the first world war.

This greed continues to this day, OIL OIL OIL, Money, a lot of it, is changing hands in the land of sand, blood and oil. Sheikdoms, with medieval laws are ruling this part of the world and the US and the EU countries are eating out of their hand, asking for more.

Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, desert tribes, mountain tribes, wet land tribes and urban tribes all have scores to settle. The "foreigners" with their "good" intentions should stay away and let these barbaric people settle their disputes the only way they know- by the sword.

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ObWindy 3 hours ago
@Davidhillel Are you so sure to count us Kurds among "these barbaric people"?We may not be as civilized,But please don't be ruthless in judgment.

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pipsqueak 20 hours ago
SIGH! There's nothing that even a well-intentioned Obama can do with this mess. There is not the manpower to clamp down on these bastards. I hope Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are happy with what they have wrought. The gift that keeps on giving ..

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Steeple839 20 hours ago
There is no reason for us to spend another ounce of US blood or wealth in this part of the world. Let's step aside and let all of the factions of Islam bleed each other out; there's nothing we can do to stop this.

China has more strategic interest now in this region than we do. Let's see how the Arabs and Iranians enjoy doing business with Beijing.

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'Obama Is to America What Scott Is to Zambia'

Why does the first white head of state in an African democracy come as such a surprise?

BY ALEXANDER MUTALE OCTOBER 31, 2014

LUSAKA, Zambia — Earlier this week, Zambia appointed Guy Scott to the post of president, making him the country's first white leader since independence from Britain 50 years ago -- and the first white head of state in a democratic African country. It's a remarkable moment, and it says a lot about this particular country's remarkable success in navigating the complexities of post-colonial ethnic politics.
On Oct. 29, the Zambian cabinet named Scott, a Zambian of British origin, as the successor of President Michael Sata, who had died the previous day in a London hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed illness. Scott will serve as acting president until voters choose his replacement in a by-election, which has to be held within the first 90 days after his appointment. (Somewhat ironically, he won't be able to campaign in the election, since a clause in the constitution specifies that only those whose parents were born in Zambia are eligible to stand for the office, and Scott's were from Scotland.)
Despite its temporary character, Scott's appointment still marks a watershed for post-colonial Africa. It's a sign of how Zambia has managed to move beyond the divisive racial politics that have dominated the continent for five decades -- in sharp contrast to, say, neighboring Zimbabwe, where the colonial past still weighs heavily on the political present. Zambia's unique position attests to the enduring legacy of its first post-independence leader, President Kenneth Kaunda, who strongly advocated policies that encouraged ethnic, religious, racial, and regional integration. Despite being home to more than 70 different tribal groups, the country has a reputation for stability that has made it something of a model for other African democracies.
Mark Chona, a veteran Zambian bureaucrat, told me that Guy Scott's prominence embodies the pledge that Kaunda made on the day the country gained independence. "Dr. Kenneth Kaunda said that Zambia shall be a non-racial -- not multiracial --but a non-racial society," Chona said. "Here, color isn't a factor for any Zambian seeking any opportunity." Kaunda, who's widely revered despite the authoritarianism that marred the end of his reign, expressed his philosophy in the national motto, "One Zambia, One Nation." Now Zambians have come up with a new slogan: "Obama is to America what Scott is to Zambia." (The photo above shows Scott, at right, with the U.S. president at a summit of African leaders in Washington in August.)
Even though Scott, a Cambridge-educated economist, won't be able to run in the presidential race, he enjoys a good reputation in this country of 15 million, a population that includes just 40,000 of European origin. Scott's politics are informed by his family's long history of collaboration with Zambian nationalists who fought for separation from British colonial rule. Scott, who was born in the Zambian city of Livingstone -- across the river from the Zimbabwean town of Victoria Falls -- joined active politics in 1990 as a member of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, later switching to the Patriotic Front of Michael Sata in 2001. Scott is strikingly popular with voters in his Lusaka constituency, having garnered more than 70 percent of the vote in the last parliamentary election.
His late father, Alexander Scott, an ally of the Zambian nationalists, was a founder of anti-colonial-government newspapers, including one that later became the government-owned Zambia Daily Mail. "I am deeply honored because I know it's a popular appointment," Scott told reporters after his appointment as Zambia's first white vice president in September 2011. "I will do my damn best to do right for the people who put me here." In 2012, Scott recalled a visit to his country by ex-U.S. President George W. Bush: "When they introduced me as vice president, he thought they were kidding."
Sata, Scott's close political ally, told parliamentarians a few weeks ago that having Scott in the government boosted the country's image as a destination for investors. "I brought Dr. Scott in as vice president to help me develop Zambia," Sata said. Copper-rich Zambia has recorded growth rates of more than 6 percent during Sata's rule.
Zambians have had plenty of political differences in the years since a campaign of street protests triggered the transition to electoral democracy in 1991. Most recently, members of the opposition boycotted the 50th anniversary ceremony of Zambian independence as part of a dispute over the government's delay in presenting a promised draft of a new constitution that includes far-reaching changes to the electoral system. The government finally presented the draft a few hours before the jubilee celebration on Oct. 25; now Zambians are insisting that the government provide a road map for its adoption, which is likely to include a referendum.
Opposition leaders have accused Sata -- and Scott -- of orchestrating a drift towards authoritarianism. Scott dismissed those criticisms in an interview with the Guardian last year: "It's a wheeze, it's an attempt I suppose based on some of the stuff that took place in Russia to denounce a government rather than eject it," he told the paper. "But I really am very hard-pressed to find a corner I can sit in and believe that we're looking at a one-party state again." His critics are now taking aim at his appointment, saying that it violates the constitutional requirement about the eligibility of presidential candidates.
What's eminently clear is that Zambia has signally managed to avoid the sort of ethnic, religious, or racial conflict that has plagued so many others in the region. Zambia, for example, has been notably bereft of the lingering bitterness that allowed Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to exploit resentment of white farmers and their control of land to foment division and undermine democracy. The contrast has a great deal to do with the differences in the two countries' struggles for independence.
"Yes, Zambia did lose lives in the struggle for her independence, but our struggle was really nonviolent, and we were left with less bitterness after independence," veteran politician Sikota Wina told me. "What we hated about colonial rule was the system and its racial discrimination policies. But our friends in Zimbabwe went through a more violent struggle with guerrilla wars and more loss of life, which could be responsible for the bitterness Zimbabweans seem to show against the Europeans now."
Zimbabwean opposition activist Tinashe Nyastianu, who fled his homeland after repeated attacks by the police, praised Zambia's approach: "It's good to have many ethnic groups living and working together in your country because it brings prosperity," he told me. Zambia was successful internationally, he said, because Sata showed that "he doesn't hold grudges against colonial masters."
Of course, the international fuss over Scott's appointment shows that both Africans and outsiders have yet to transcend racial politics entirely. (For what it's worth, though Scott is the first democratic head of state in an African country, he's not the first "white leader" since apartheid, as some news outlets have been erroneously reporting. The African island nation of Mauritius elected a prime minister of European origin in 2003.) But Zambia's approach does offer hope that Africans can find ways of healing the divisions that still plague so many of their societies.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Tilaye 1 day ago
What is important about Scott's appointment is not his skin color, but Zambia's peaceful transition to a by-election which will be expected to be exemplary. It is also interesting to note that KK's legacy lives on despite the misgivings about his leadership during his presidency. This is a testimony to the fact that no leader is perfect, but some leaders leave behind indelible marks that indure the test of political change or even turmoil.

The focus on Scott's race is regrettable. To use terms such as "the first white president after independence or after Apartheid" sounds like race/skin color is more important than the unselfish action Zambian politicians have taken in respecting the constitution. Scott is Zambian and this is good enough - touting the race card is tantamount to perpetuating the notion of division. Africa has more pressing issues to deal with - ethnicity/race need not be one of them despite the need to transcend the problem.

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Curlyr 3 days ago
Would Guy Scott nationality be Zambia-UK?

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About Laurie Garrett

Laurie Garrett is senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prize winning science writer.
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