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DR Congo’s sports minister said US Ebola travel restrictions are going “too far” after they kept him waiting in Europe under a 21-day entry rule and forced changes to his country’s first World Cup plans in 52 years.
“All our players play in European competitions. They have not been in DR Congo recently,” Didier Budimbu told Semafor, saying he did not understand Spain’s decision to call off DR Congo’s World Cup warm-up against Chile this week over Ebola concerns. The match was moved to Orléans, France, and played behind closed doors, putting DR Congo inside a wider set of African concerns around the World Cup, including a FIFA-selected Somali referee denied entry to the US this week.
The minister said he is waiting in Europe to clear a 21-day quarantine before entering the US. Eleven technical staff members completed the same process and received US visas from Belgium this week. “We have to comply with the laws of the countries hosting us,” Budimbu said, though he criticized the rules, saying Kinshasa is more than 2,000 kilometres from the outbreak zone in eastern DR Congo and has no Ebola cases in the capital.
DR Congo’s national team was welcomed in Houston yesterday by Jay Bhattacharya, head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and CDC port health staff after arriving from a training base in Europe, following a reported temperature screening on the plane. The team had changed its preparations to limit exposure risks, including canceling a planned training camp in Kinshasa.
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DR Congo last played at the World Cup in 1974, when the country was called Zaire and became the first sub-Saharan African side to reach the tournament.
He said qualification back in March was celebrated even in cities in eastern Congo held by Rwanda-backed rebels. “Whether we like it or not, football brings us all together,” he said. But the government’s plan to bring about 300 supporters from Kinshasa has been cut back. Budimbu said Congo is now relying more on Congolese abroad, with a few well-known fans sent to Europe to wait out the 21-day window, including “Lumumba,” who went viral at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco for standing motionless through matches.
DR Congo has been under Ebola-related pressure since May 15, when an outbreak was declared in the east. The Bundibugyo strain has infected more than 600 people and killed more than 120, with no approved vaccine or therapies. Three days after the outbreak was declared, the US halted visa services in Kinshasa and restricted entry for non-US citizens recently in DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan, making travel harder for Congolese supporters. Budimbu said government-purchased World Cup tickets will be allocated to Congolese abroad.