Ebola-hit nations may 'face collapse' Published duration 24 September 2014

image copyright AFP image caption People with Ebola are finding it difficult to get adequate treatment

The Ebola outbreak threatens to become a political crisis that could unravel years of effort to stabilise West Africa, a think tank has warned.

"The worst-hit countries now face widespread chaos and, potentially, collapse," the International Crisis Group (ICG) said.

The world's largest outbreak of Ebola has caused 2,811 deaths so far, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Meanwhile, a team of health workers in Guinea has been attacked.

The International Federation of the Red Cross said they were collecting bodies believed to be infected with Ebola in western Guinea.

media caption Abba Abashi, Liberian-Nigerian student: "My mum caught me crying"

One Red Cross worker is recovering after being wounded in the neck, it said.

Last week, an eight-member team trying to raise awareness about Ebola was killed in the south-east of the country by villagers suspicious of official attempts to combat the disease.

Twenty-seven suspects have been arrested over their murders, Guinea's Justice Minister Cheick Sacko said, AFP news agency reports.

On Tuesday, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Ebola infections could treble to 20,000 by November if efforts to tackle the outbreak were not stepped up.

However, Francis Dove Edwin, a member of Sierra Leone's presidential task force dealing with Ebola, said much progress had been made in curbing the outbreak.

Patients were now being isolated and quarantined and from "quarantine you have eradication", Mr Dove told BBC Focus on Africa.

Skills shortage:

image copyright AFP

Liberia with a 4.2m population: 51 doctors; 978 nurses and midwives; 269 pharmacists

Sierra Leone with a 6m population: 136 doctors; 1,017 nurses and midwives; 114 pharmacists

Source: Afri-Dev.Info

Both Liberia and Sierra Leone are recovering from brutal civil wars and Guinea has faced coups and ethnic unrest.

"Adding social breakdown to the epidemic would create disaster perhaps impossible to manage," the ICG statement said

The international community needs to provide more personnel and resources "not only to the immediate medical response but also to the longer-term problems of strengthening governance and rebuilding health-care systems", it said.

The Ebola crisis has exposed citizens' lack of trust in their government in "already fragile societies", the group said.

In three worst-hit countries, "past civil conflicts fuelled by local and regional antagonisms could resurface", it said.

BBC Ebola broadcast:

The BBC World Service has launched special programme containing the latest news about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

It goes out at 19.50 GMT each weekday.

Mr Edwin dismissed the ICG's assessment, saying Ebola would not cause political instability in Sierra Leone.

A meeting is expected to take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York to consider the next steps to deal with the outbreak.

With warnings of soaring food prices and possible shortages, reopening borders with appropriate surveillance measures must be a top priority for West African governments, the group advised.

"Despite rhetoric to the contrary, West African governments have tried to manage these crises unilaterally, ignoring - as demonstrated once again by the rapid spread of Ebola - that their citizenries are deeply linked and interdependent," the ICG statement said.

While countries like the US, UK, France and China and Cuba were ramping up their responses by setting up Ebola health facilities and sending personnel, special attention also needed to be paid to Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia, countries near the epicentre which both have inadequate health systems, it said.