Transcript
The Commonwealth Games Federation has defended Samoa's decision to deny athletes from Sierra Leone entry to the country over Ebola fears.
The Samoan government refused to issue visas to Sierra Leone's team competing in the Commonwealth Youth Games, which begin in Apia this weekend.
The Federation's Chief Executive, David Grevemberg, told Matt Chatterton Samoa's Government has the right to make it's own decisions.
DAVID GREVEMBERG: We have obviously taken a lot of attention to this over the past couple of weeks, working with the Samoan government and of course the organising committee. The [Commonwealth Games] Federation asked for consideration [of alternate options] but,obviously, ultimately the Samoan government is a sovereign state and as the Prime Minister has rightfully said, he and his cabinet, and of course their advisors and of course the advice they have sought, need to take into account what's best for the country, in terms of safety and security. In terms of both the local advice but regional and international advice, it was something that ultimately the sovereignty of Samoa needed to make a decision on. We asked them to consider all the options when our delegation was there and we're very sorry for the athletes not being able to attend but this is something we're going to need to address with small states and island states as we move forward, but of course the Federation needs to respect the sovereignty of the state and what a government feels is in the best interests of their people.
MATT CHATTERTON: I know that Ghana said that possibly the Commonwealth Games Federation could reimburse Sierra Leone for all the athletes that were planning on going?
DG: The Federation actually pays for up to two male and two female athletes and up to two officials, so in terms of the delegations we were actually covering the air cost anyway and of course on the ground the costs are covered by the local organising committee. In terms of their athlete preparations and so forth we are engaged with Sierra Leone and we will continue to work with them on this challenge and the challenges that they are having in terms of tackling this really dangerous disease".
