by Hindustan Times New Delhi / Saubhadra Chatterji
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Official sources told HT that more than three of the 12 MPs, who were part of the contingent, were scared of the Ebola virus and one even pulled out of the trip, jeopardizing the government’s goodwill mission and embarrassing India’s foreign policy establishment.
The cancellation also casts a shadow over India’s participation in an international parliamentary meet in Cameroon next month.
The Ebola hemorrhagic fever has killed almost 1,500 people and infected more than 2,600 in the last six months, mostly in the west-African nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. South Africa and its neighbouring countries have not reported any cases so far.
The Indian delegation had finalised meetings with South African President Jacob Zuma and Speaker Baleka Mbete, among others. “Everything got cancelled at the last moment, even after getting clearances from the PMO and the external affairs ministry,” said an official.
