France was last night evacuating nine of its nationals who tested positive for Covid-19 disease in Nairobi, as it emerged that foreign missions could be turning into incubation areas for the deadly virus.
The nine were among a group of Europeans who were set to be airlifted on an arranged repatriation flight operated by KLM after one of them tested positive.
But the planned evacuation has caused a row between the French and Kenyan health authorities, who accused the French Embassy of frustrating lockdown measures.
The row broke out last week after health officials identified nine French nationals, including diplomats, suspected of carrying the virus. They had either arrived in Kenya recently or been in contact with infected people.
One French national had already contracted the virus and flown out of the country weeks earlier in a previously arranged flight.
The 57-year-old man, who arrived from France on March 9 on an Air France flight, was hospitalised in Kwale. His condition required extra care and he was airlifted to The Aga Khan Hospital before being evacuated to Paris.
Last week, two French nationals tested positive at a private lab in Nairobi. But as protocol requires verification from government facilities, officials could not add them to the tally because the French authorities refused to have samples taken.
VIENNA CONVENTION
But it is the handling of these patients that has put the French Embassy on a collision course with Nairobi after it emerged that it is not observing health regulations.
In what may have endangered staff at the embassy and the general public, the French nationals, majority of them diplomats, took refuge at the French Chancery and refused to have their tests validated by Kenya authorities.
A source at the Health ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the saga puts the government in limbo even as it tries to contain the virus, as it must conform to the Vienna Convention.
“The director-general has been in talks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an effort to find a solution to this because it is a delicate balancing act for Kenya as it tries to abide by international regulations while containing this virus,” said the source.
The source added that the French case has set a dangerous precedent for other embassies who may decide to shield their countrymen from tests.
SELF-ISOLATION
Contacted, the French Embassy denied claims that it was not abiding by local health guidelines. “The Embassy of France respects Kenyan directives regarding coronavirus and has no comment about these allegations,” the spokesperson told the Nation on Saturday.
Legally, the embassy is beyond the jurisdiction of the Health ministry and Kenyan officials can only enter on the express permission of the ambassador.
Under the Vienna Convention of 1961, embassies are seen as extensions of the foreign country’s territory. Neither the house, office or cars of the diplomats can be searched unless with express permission from the foreign state.
The Health ministry had directed that diplomats be quarantined at their residences for 14 days after which they can take tests to be validated by laboratories in Kenya.
The gap in the directive was exposed when the diplomats refused to surrender their samples. In fact, Kenya cannot, at the moment, detain diplomats accused of violating quarantine measures.