Donald Trump issues 30-day ultimatum to WHO
The American president threatened Monday evening to suspend the American contribution to the World Health Organization indefinitely in 30 days if the latter does not carry out major "improvements". He added that the United States could go so far as to question its membership of the WHO.
In a letter relayed by a nocturnal tweet, Monday, May 18, Donald Trump said that the suspension of American funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) will become final unless the UN agency agrees, within 30 days , to make major "improvements".
In this letter addressed to the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the American president warns that he could also question the adhesion of the United States to the WHO.
"It is clear that the repeated missteps on your part and in your organization to respond to the pandemic have cost the world extremely dear. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is to be able to prove its independence from - from China ", he adds in his letter.
The European Commission has said that threats from Donald Trump are not welcome. "This is the time to show solidarity, not to point the finger or undermine multilateral cooperation," said one of the spokesmen for the European Commission, Virginie Battu, questioned during a point hurry.
Washington is the first donor to the UN agency. The US administration has already started discussions with the WHO on ways to reform the institution, adds Donald Trump in the letter.
WHO promises independent assessment
Donald Trump announced in mid-April that he had asked his administration to stop funding the WHO, accusing him of having "failed in his essential duties" in the fight against the epidemic of coronavirus. The head of the White House accused the UN agency of encouraging Chinese "disinformation" about the virus, which would have led to a bigger health crisis.
"All day long Monday, criticism of the WHO was roused in Washington, sometimes on the part of Mike Pompeo, sometimes on the part of Donald Trump who criticizes the WHO, with barely covered words, his complacency with China ", analyzes Matthieu Mabin, France 24 correspondent in Washington. Donald Trump had launched earlier Monday: "I am not happy with the World Health Organization", "they are a puppet of China".
Also on Monday, at the organization's world assembly, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated that she had raised the alarm "quickly" and "often", and that he would launch an "independent" investigation into the response to the pandemic of the UN agency and its member states "as soon as possible at the appropriate time".