Sierra Leone peacekeepers bound for
Somalia quarantined over Ebola
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[October 14, 2014]
FREETOWN (Reuters) - A battalion of
800 Sierra Leone soldiers awaiting deployment as peacekeepers in Somalia
has been placed in quarantine after one of its members tested positive
for the deadly Ebola virus, military officials said on Tuesday.
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The soldiers were due to relieve the West African nation's
contingent already deployed with Somalia's African Union
peacekeeping mission, known as AMISOM.
However, they will now be subject to a 21-day isolation period, a
senior officer in Sierra Leone's army told Reuters, asking not to be
named.
Colonel Michael Samoura, spokesman of the Republic of Sierra Leone
Armed Forces, confirmed that a member of the battalion had tested
positive for the disease.
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He said the soldier was infected after leaving without permission
the military camp where the force is based.
More than 4,000 people have died in the worst epidemic of the viral
hemorrhagic fever on record, most of them in Liberia, Sierra Leone
and Guinea.
Cases of the disease have also been recorded in Nigeria, Senegal,
Spain and the United States, but outbreaks in those countries have
been contained so far.
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(Reporting by Umaru Fofana; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Daniel
Flynn)
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