By Addis Getachew
ADDIS ABABA
China has donated some 200 million yuan ($40 million) to the African Union (A.U.) in support of the pan-African body's efforts to fight the deadly Ebola virus.
"The donation will be provided in the form of cash, materials and equipment," Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia Xie Ziaoyan said on Friday.
He hinted that that China might also provide anti-Ebola drugs, which Beijing is said to have recently manufactured.
"China immediately responded [to the virus outbreak] and has been providing cash, material and equipment necessary to fight the disease," the diplomat said.
The Chinese envoy handed over the donation to ambassador to the A.U. Commissioner for Social Affairs Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko.
"China will continue supporting the A.U. in its efforts to fight back Ebola," he said. "We will do so until victory."
Kaloko, for his part, hailed Chinese support for African fight against the Ebola virus.
Asked if Africa is receiving sufficient support from the international community for fighting the virus, Kaloko said "We are not getting as we would have wanted."
"But we are satisfied with the international response [all the same]," he said.
China previously donated $12 million for Ebola response in addition to deploying medics to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea – the three most-affected countries by the virus.
In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has claimed more than 2,400 lives in West Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
The tropical fever, which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It also reportedly spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have died of the disease.
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