The health expert Ahmed Ogwell from Kenya accuses the officials at Frankfurt Airport of having treated him poorly upon entry. The federal police, on the other hand, speak of "false suspicions". Now Health Minister Lauterbach is also getting involved.
The procedures involved in the entry of a well-known health expert from Kenya to Germany have led to irritation. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach explained in the short message service Twitter that it would be clarified "what exactly went wrong at Frankfurt Airport". The affected head of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Ahmed Ogwell, is now in Berlin. He is a "particularly important guest".
According to his own statements, Ogwell was stopped on Saturday when he was traveling to the so-called World Health Summit of the WHO in Berlin. Also on Twitter, he stated that he had been "poorly treated" at immigration control and was "very irritated" by it. At the same time, he stated that the officials would imagine that he had wanted to immigrate illegally.
The federal police department responsible for Frankfurt Airport "resolutely" rejected the allegations and spoke of "false suspicions". It was a "standardized entry check for a third-country national who requires a visa," she said on Twitter on Saturday. "Despite the uncooperative behavior of the traveler, the entry questioning and the necessary search query lasted only four minutes and were carried out lawfully in every respect," said the federal police.
Ogwell also said in his tweet on Saturday that his attendance at the World Health Summit is now in doubt and that he is "happier and safer at home in Africa". According to Lauterbach, however, he will take part in the congress. "He is in Berlin, taking part in the congress, we took care of it immediately," wrote the Federal Minister of Health in his contribution.
The Africa CDC is a center for disease control established by the African Union (AU). The specialist institution, founded in 2016, aims to support the members of the international community with their expert knowledge in the fight against disease outbreaks. It operates several regional centers and bundles information on the occurrence of the disease. Ogwell runs the center.
The head of infectiology at the Berlin Charité, Leif Erik Sander, also criticized the treatment of Ogwell. "This is how we treat our African partners?" he asked on Twitter on Saturday in a post addressed to the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Police. Later he was happy that he had arrived in Berlin "despite the incident". This is "very good". He looks forward to the talks with Ogwell at the summit.
(This article was first published on Sunday, October 16, 2022.)
