FRANCE PERSPECTIVE

Paris views the outbreak with the dual sensibility of a former actor on the continent and a country attached to health multilateralism. The French framing directly contests the American strategy. Le Monde gives the floor to experts who deem Washington's reaction 'excessive' and 'unethical': Georgetown's Lawrence Gostin recalls that Ebola spreads through direct contact with the fluids of already visibly sick patients, and that in a robust health system like America's its pandemic potential is low. RFI documents the diplomatic standoff: Washington asked several European countries to stop hosting nationals of DRC, South Sudan and Uganda, and threatened to close its own territory to nations that refused. The coordinated European answer is a firm no — and a Belgian minister goes so far as to point to the 'overwhelming responsibility' of the United States for the African situation, given the aid cuts. Libération widens the lens: the flare-up 'reveals the state of decay' of a country rich in minerals, where corruption undermines the response. France 24 films health workers attacked and Red Cross volunteers set upon during a burial of victims. The Parisian perspective thus blends health solidarity, an ethical critique of the American fortress, and clear-eyed awareness of Congolese fragilities.