CONGO DR: Congolese Pilgrims Denied Saudi Visas Over Ebola

Pilgrims from the Democratic Republic of the Congo will not be issued visas by Saudi Arabia amid fears Ebola could spread during next month’s Hajj pilgrimage.DPeople from sub-Saharan Africa make up about 10 percent of the more than two million annual pilgrims to the holy city of Mecca.

A statement from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: The granting of arrivals visas for people entering from DRC has been stopped, to conserve the well-being of pilgrims.

The suspension comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in Congo’s eastern North Kivu and Ituri provinces a public health emergency of international concern.

However, despite this, WHO has said no countries should place restrictions on travel or trade because of Ebola and it has called on governments not to panic in response to the decision by Riyadh.

Around three percent of Congo’s population is Muslim, while people from sub-Saharan Africa make up about 10 percent of the more than two million annual pilgrims to the holy city of Mecca.

In 2014, Saudi Arabia cancelled more than 7,000 visas for pilgrims from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia during the last Ebola outbreak, which claimed the lives of more than 11,000 people.

The epidemic has killed over 1,700 people since it emerged last October, according to the health ministry in Congo.


Tourism Observer