US Congressional Republicans on Thursday urged US President Donald Trump to condition funding for the WHO on the resignation of its chief over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seventeen Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said that they had “lost faith” in WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, even as they stressed that the organization is vital to tackling the world’s health problems.
“Director-General Tedros has failed in his mandate to objectively respond to the largest global health crisis since the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” the lawmakers, led by Republican Michael McCaul, wrote to Trump in a letter.
Trump on Tuesday announced that Washington would halt payments to the UN body that amounted to US$400 million last year.
He accused it of “mismanaging” the crisis and covering up the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak in China before it spread.
More than 141,000 people worldwide have died, and the global economy has nosedived.
The Republicans accused Tedros of being too willing to believe Beijing and of brushing off a Taiwanese warning on the ease of viral transmission.
They said that Tedros delayed emergency declarations “despite clear evidence of the rapid spread and human-to-human transmission of COVID-19.”
WHO on March 11 declared a pandemic, after 114 countries had reported cases and 4,500 people had died, and after weeks of Tedros advising against travel bans.
“We have lost faith in Director-General Tedros’ ability to lead the World Health Organization,” the lawmakers said.
However, they added that they “understand, and value, the vital role that the WHO plays around the world, especially in acute humanitarian settings.”
They also said that the WHO is often “the only organization working on the ground in the worst places in the world, and the US should continue to support this important work.”
Still, they urged swift action to ensure the “impartiality, transparency and legitimacy” of the WHO.
“We recommend that you condition any future Fiscal Year 2020 voluntary contributions to the WHO on the resignation of Director-General Tedros,” they said.
The 55-year-old malaria specialist is Ethiopia’s former minister of health and foreign affairs.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
RSS