Eswatini is one of 15 African countries to have benefited from Moroccan medical aid to support their fight against COVID-19.
Rabat – A shipment of Moroccan medical supplies arrived in Eswatini’s capital, Mbabane, on Thursday morning, June 18, aboard an airplane operated by Morocco’s air carrier Royal Air Maroc.
The medical supplies are part of the aid King Mohammed VI sent to 15 African states to help them in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Swazi authorities organized a reception ceremony for the supplies at Mbabane International Airport. Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini chaired the ceremony, on behalf of King Mswati III of Eswatini.
Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini has this morning received, on behalf of His Majesty King Mswati III medical supplies comprising of masks, visors, hygiene caps, medical coats, sanitiser, chloroquine, among others, from His Majesty King Mohammed VI of the Kingdom of Morocco pic.twitter.com/JxGux9Y8zN
— Eswatini Government (@EswatiniGovern1) June 18, 2020
Swazi Minister of Foreign Affairs Thuli Dladla also attended the ceremony with other senior officials and representatives of civil society organizations.
PM: “It’s a moving gesture of Africans coming to the assistance of fellow Africans. We are humbled that whilst Morocco is also facing a similar #COVID19 challenge, His Majesty King Mohammed VI found it in his good heart to factor in the people of Eswatini to offer a helping hand. pic.twitter.com/kpKADRdFGX
— Eswatini Government (@EswatiniGovern1) June 18, 2020
The shipment includes face masks, visors, hygiene caps, gowns, and hydroalcoholic gel. The aid also includes boxes of chloroquine and azithromycin.
All the equipment and products sent to Eswatini were manufactured in Morocco by Moroccan companies, and comply with the standards of the World Health Organization.
On June 14, King Mohammed VI gave the instructions to send medical supplies to 15 African countries.
According to a statement from the Royal Cabinet, the aid consists of nearly eight million face masks, 900,000 visors, 600,000 hygiene caps, 60,000 gowns, 30,000 liters of hydroalcoholic gel, 75,000 boxes of chloroquine, and 15,000 boxes of azithromycin.
Moroccan airplanes transported the shipments throughout the week. In addition to Eswatini, the aid benefited Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tanzania, Chad, and Zambia.
The royal initiative won praise from the international community, with the majority of African Union (AU) members sharing messages of gratitude.
Several ambassadors of African countries to the AU, including Congo, Chad, Togo, South Africa, and Niger, conveyed their thanks to Morocco and its King for the solidarity gesture through Morocco’s Permanent Ambassador to the AU, Mohammed Arrouchi.
The royal initiative was part of Morocco’s pan-African vision that focuses on South-South cooperation and the sharing of experiences and good practices.
On April 13, King Mohammed VI took the initiative to call on African countries to develop a pragmatic and action-oriented approach and establish an operational framework to collaborate in the management of the COVID-19 crisis.
