FRANCE PERSPECTIVE

France covers the Ebola story as a public health cooperation dossier with its former sphere of influence, and does so with a serious statistical approach that few other capitals can match. Washington is following the end of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus's visit to Kinshasa hour by hour: a one-hour interview at the African Union Palace with Félix Tshisekedi, a joint declaration signed with the Health and Communication ministers, a trip to Bunia, the epicenter of the Ituri outbreak, and a meeting with the first recovered patients. The message sent to the populations — 'You are not alone' — is reported verbatim.

Where French media stand out is in relaying the confidence displayed by Congolese authorities on the calendar. RFI documents the internal debate in Kinshasa precisely: Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of the INRB and co-discoverer of the virus in 1976, estimates that it is possible to contain the epidemic in two to three months; Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba speaks of four to six months; and the stated goal is eradication before 2027. This projection is based on the experience of the 16 previous Congolese outbreaks and the mortality rates observed since the official declaration on May 15. But the same article notes the obstacles: there is still no transit center or treatment center meeting international standards in the most affected areas, families often refuse post-mortem tests in morgues, and only 20% of contacts are being followed. Five tons of medication, 135 motorcycles, and 27 vehicles have arrived in Bunia; Jean Kaseya, director of Africa CDC, is in South Korea to follow the combined trials.

A third front is opened by Le Monde and France 24: the controversy surrounding the American quarantine center in Laikipia. The project, revealed on May 26 by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Washington — 30 caregivers, 50 beds, $13.5 million in funding — is treated by Paris from a legal angle: the Kenyan High Court has suspended the installation and arrival of any foreign patient. Sud Ouest covers the vaccine race with a detail that few other newspapers retain: the French institute Inserm published a preprint last week calling for testing the Zaire vaccine (Merck) on the Bundibugyo strain, due to lack of better options. The Parisian tone remains analytical, without alarmism — the epidemic is framed as a public health issue in Africa that France follows with the discreet expertise of an old colonial partner.