EU ready to help Nigeria fight bird flu

The European Union said Friday it was following closely the bird flu outbreak in northern Nigeria and was readying millions of euros of aid for Nigeria to help fight the spread of the disease.

Photo: EU ready to help Nigeria fight bird flu

EU spokesman Philip Tod told reporters that EU experts "are remaining in close contact" with officials in Nigeria, and with U.N. agencies, like the Food and Agriculture Organization, which are helping fight the outbreak there.

"The (European) Commission is concerned about the outbreaks in northern Nigeria," he said, adding the EU was in talks with the 76-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific group on an EU pledge of Ђ 30 million (US$36 million) it was giving to them to help prevent the spread of the disease.

"That aid is yet to be agreed by the ACP countries. We certainly expect Nigeria to benefit from part of these funds, to help them in their fight of this disease," said Tod.

Nigerian poultry farmers on Friday called for more compensation for those whose flocks have been hit by the bird flu, the first known outbreak in Africa. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was confirmed Wednesday and Thursday in three of Nigeria's 36 states, all in the north of Africa's most populous nation. The disease has killed some 100,000 Nigerian birds so far.

Tod also said the European Commission expects Greece to apply EU recommendations to ensure an outbreak of an H5 strain of the flu found in three wild swans does not spread.

Experts at the EU's reference library in Weybridge, England were trying to determine whether the birds had the deadly H5N1 strain, as found in Turkey.

Greek authorities have already instructed poultry farmers to keep their birds indoors or in coops, and have banned the sale of live birds in street markets.

Tod said Greek authorities also had to adopt "safeguard measures," including a ban of transport of farmed poultry in the zone where the three cases were found as well as increased surveillance of all birds near the affected area, reports the AP.

I.L.