WHO begins return to Brazzaville

The World Health Organisation regional office for Africa begins its return to Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, on Tuesday after a four-year absence caused by civil war, the UN agency reported. WHO Regional Director Ebrahim Samba will be among the first group of 15 returning staff leaving Harare for Brazzaville which has been the seat of the UN agency since 1952. Samba told reporters in Harare on Friday that some staff would remain in Harare because there was not enough space in Brazzaville to accommodate the extra personnel who had joined the organisation since it evacuated Brazzaville in 1997. "We had 240 staff and all available space was fully utilised. Today we number nearly 450," he said. Six divisions of the Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases (DDC), the largest within the WHO Africa office, as well as inter-country staff, would remain in Harare. However, he added, some of DDC units would return to Brazzaville as soon as more office space was available. Ministers at the 51st Africa Regional Committee meeting from 27-1 September decided the security situation had improved sufficiently to allow for a gradual return of personnel to Brazzaville.