North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has labeled the recent travel ban by Dubai airline, Emirates, on some selected African countries as an act of discrimination, offensive and retrogressive step by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On Tuesday, December 28, 2021, Emirates Airlines extended the initial 48-hours ban for flights from Accra to Dubai indefinitely.
Sources say the ban on the flights is due to the rising number of positive Covid-19 cases recorded on outbound flights arriving in Dubai from Accra and Abidjan.
But Mr. Ablakwa believes that the decision by Emirates is offensive and depicts racism since the active case counts of France, UK, Italy, the USA and India are far higher than that of the selected African countries which the ban affects.
“Emirates’ travel ban imposed on selected African countries including Ghana, effective today 28th December 2021 is by a mile the most discriminatory, offensive, senseless and retrogressive step.
Ghana, Angola, Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia do not have an active case count and hospitalisation anywhere near that of France, UK, Italy, USA and India whose citizens are all allowed, rightly so if I may add, to still travel to and transit through Dubai,” he said in a tweet.
— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) December 28, 2021
He, therefore, urged the African leaders to call on the UAE authorities to reverse the ban and reciprocate on UAE nationals in Africa if they fail to do so.
“I urge African Presidents and the African Union to immediately denounce this shameless discriminatory policy and to proceed by giving UAE authorities an ultimatum to reverse this backward ban, failing which I strongly expect African countries to reciprocate in good measure,” he noted.
The Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee advised African presidents to collectively withdraw from the ongoing Dubai Expo.
"In addition, withdraw en masse from the ongoing Dubai Expo which closes on March 31, 2022," he added.
He further noted that global challenges like the coronavirus demanded global solutions and not biased reactions against countries.
“Global challenges demand global solutions, not blinded discriminatory knee-jerk reactions,” he said.
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