THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia.

NEWS SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014

President Johnson Sirleaf’s quest for the ratification of Block-16 oil deal and ECOWAS’ decision to send observation team for Liberia’s Special Senatorial Elections are stories dominating our summary of today’s local dailies.

DOMINANT STORIES

Oil Block-16 Nets US$22M

The Government of Liberia has announced that it is generating US$22 Million from the leasing of Oil Block-16 to three companies - Liberty Petroleum Corporation of Liberia, Pillar Oil Limited of the United States of America and Millennium Oil and Gas of Nigeria. According to the New Dawn newspaper, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf through a communication read on the floor of the Plenary of the House of Representatives at the Capitol on Tuesday, 16 December seeks the authorization of that august body to ratify the Block-16 agreement between the Government and the three companies. “I submit for ratification a production Sharing Contract for the first block, LB-16. The contractor for the block comprises Liberty Petroleum Corporation, an international oil company from the United States, Pillar Oil Limited, an oil exploration and production company from Nigeria and new Millennium Corporation, an entity owned by some private Liberian-citizens,” the President’s communication read.  The letter further stated that the award recommended by the international auditing and consulting firm, Ernst and Young, based on its evaluation, the National Oil Company of Liberia or NOCAL and the Hydrocarbon Technical Committee have consented to the recommendation and in keeping with law of the Production Sharing Contract or PSC, which has been duly signed. The Liberian leader noted that based on the criteria set, “This was the highest bid with a signature bonus of US$10 Million, Five Hundred Thousand and with the addition of funds payable for the acquisition of seismic data for LB-16 at US$11 million, five hundred thousand, it makes the total amount to be received from the lease transaction for LB-16 US$22 million, reports the New Dawn newspaper.

Related Captions: Ellen Requests House to Ratify Oil Block 16(In Profile Daily), Ellen Seeks Ratification For Oil Block(The News), Ellen Requests House to Ratify Oil Deal(The Reporter), Liberia's Legislature Set To Ratify Block 16(FrontPage Africa)

ECOWAS To Send Elections Observers

The Inquirernewspaper reports that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has consented to send an observation team for this weekend's midterm senatorial elections in Liberia.  A Foreign Ministry dispatch says the disclosure was made by Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, President of the ECOWAS Commission, during discussions held in Abuja, Nigeria between the ECOWAS President and Liberia's Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan. During the discussions, which was held on Monday, December 15, 2014 on the margins of the 46th Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Minister Ngafuan gave the ECOWAS President an update on the electoral process, especially the lifting of the Supreme Court's injunction on the holding of the elections, which now paves the way for the holding of the elections on Saturday, December 20, 2015.  The dispatching of the ECOWAS election observer team is in response to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's request to Mr. Ouedraogo for the sub-regional body to send observers for the Liberian senatorial elections during his recent visit to Liberia. President Sirleaf's request for ECOWAS to observe the elections is meant to enhance the credibility and transparency of the electoral process. The ECOWAS Team is expected to arrive in Liberia during the course of the week in preparation for the elections on Saturday.

Related Captions: ECOWAS Election Observers Expected Here(The Reporter), ECOWAS To Send Elections Observer Team to Liberia(Heritage), ECOWAS Elections Observer Team Expected(In Profile Daily), ECOWAS To Send Elections Observer Team To Liberia(INSIGHT), ECOWAS To Send Elections Observer Team To Liberia(FOCUS), ECOWAS To Send Elections Observers-For Senatorial Contest(The News), ECOWAS To Send Elections Observers(The Inquirer), ECOWAS To Send Elections Observers (New Democrat)

OTHER STORIES

ECOWAS Leaders End Summit with Actions

The Authority of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Heads of State and Government have concluded the 46^th Ordinary Session in Abuja, Nigeria with several specific conclusions that would curb the deepening integration challenges that are rocking the gains in the sub region. The summit of the ECOWAS Authority derived its conclusion from reports of the 73^rd Ordinary session of the Council of Ministers, the 33^rd meeting of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council and the 2014 Annual Report delivered by the President of the ECOWAS Commission which took note of nine issues that might consolidate that gains made when taken into consideration in coming years. The ECOWAS Authority’s action will affect its regional economic performance and consolidation of the common market, economic partnership agreement, sectorial policies, peace and security, issues of instability in Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea Bissau and the 2015 elections in five West African countries including institutional matters, the Inquirer writes.

Related Caption:  ECOWAS Leaders Ends Summit With Action(The Inquirer)

Nyenabo Confirmed As Ambassador To Brussels, EU

The Daily Observer reports that in an executive session, the Liberian Senate on Tuesday reportedly gave their blessings for their colleague, Grand Gedeh Senior Senator Isaac Nyenabo, to represent Liberia as Ambassador to Brussels and the European Union (EU). Senator Nyenabo served the Liberian Senate for nine years as Senator, and briefly as Senate Pro Tempore before he was voted out by his colleagues. During his recent confirmation hearing, then Ambassador-designate Nyenabo promised to work hard to ensure that Liberia’s image within the European Union is enhanced, saying he is ever prepared to make the necessary strong representation the country needs. 

Penalties Await Drug Traffickers, Users

According to the FOCUS newspaper, following its undisputed passage of the Anti-Drug Law on June 25, 2014 by the National Legislature, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has finally approved the legal instrument and is to be shortly printed into handbill. The “Controlled Drugs and Substances Act” is an addendum to Chapter 14 of the new penal law of Liberia under the title “offenses involving danger to the person”. It can be recalled that consistent with the United Nations Conventions and Protocols on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances of 1961, 1971 and 1988 to which Liberia is a signatory, a state party is required to create specialized agency and enact laws to ensure compliance and security for the people within its borders against narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, illicit precursors or chemicals. Under the approved legal framework, drug traffickers and hard core drug users risk being punished for felony. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is under the strict mandate to regulate policy that will ensure the effectiveness of the new drug law in the best interest of the state and people. DEA authorities are yet tight-lipped on the matter but sources say they are preparing to undertake massive public education in order to put the public on the proper guide as it relates to the gravity of the law.

Related Caption: Drug Law Approved(In Profile Daily)

Peaceful Elections Liberia During This Time Shows Democratic Progress

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General (SRSG) to Liberia, Karin Landgren, says the conduct of peaceful elections at this difficult time in the nation’s history will strike a chord to the world about the democratic progress Liberia has made so far. She made the statement yesterday while reaffirming the U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) steadfastness in supporting the aspirations of Liberians for free, fair, and peaceful elections. “These senatorial elections are a sovereign, Liberian process. In the process of addressing the challenging questions around their timing, Liberians have had an opportunity to demonstrate the same resilience and resourcefulness in finding solutions that have come to the fore in the national response to Ebola,” she said. The SRSG urged all national actors to utilize Liberia’s democratic structures and instruments to resolve these questions, keeping these processes transparent and communicating clearly with the public, reports the INSIGHT newspaper.

Plan Afoot to Strengthen Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Health Systems after Ebola

The Reporternewspaper writes that the World Health Organization has urged that the health facilities and infrastructure put in place to help Liberia, and Guinea and Sierra Leone contain the Ebola virus disease epidemic should form the basis of a new health system. At a high level meeting on building resilient health systems at WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, many delegates said that the equipment and resources provided by non-governmental organizations and donor governments should be used for building health systems after the epidemic. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO’s Assistant Director General, told a press conference convened during the meeting that many delegates said it was too early to put a time scale on the proposal adding that “There need to be transitional plans put in place in order to make sure these assets become a base for future growth in these countries”.

Timbo River Bridge Under Repair

The Ministry of Public Works says it has dispatched a team of engineers to the Timbo River Bridge, connecting Grand Bassa and Rivercess Counties, to carry out repair on it amidst growing public concerns that the bridge is a ‘death trap’. It can be recalled that last week a sector of concrete and metallic made bridge fell, causing slow traffic in that part of the country. According to the Ministry, the repair work, headed by Bridge Consultant, Mr. Clarence Y. Fedricks, is expected to last for ten. During the intervention period, the Ministry says it is cautioning pedestrians and owners of vehicles to adhere to all traffic regulations already put in place by the Ministry and the Liberian National Police (LNP), adding that no vehicle/truck weighting above 10 tonnes will be allowed to cross the bridge, the In Profile Daily reports.

Related Caption: MPW Engineers Targets Timbo River Bridge(Public Agenda)

Red Cross Donates to Four Ebola Survivors

An inside story of the News newspaper reports that the Liberia National Red Cross Society (LNRCS) Grand Cape Mount County chapter over the weekend donated several assorted relief items to four Ebola survivors in three districts in the county. According to the Liberia News Agency Grand Cape Mount County correspondent, the separate donations were made by the society’s Field Officer, Konah Paul in Common wealth, Tewor and Porkpa districts. The four survivors, Hadji Kemokai, Lisa Cooper, Lamie Massaley and Morris Kallon received six buckets, five mattresses, one set of cooking utensils, amongst others.

Ebola Survivor Doctor Returning To Liberia

A Massachusetts doctor cured of Ebola says he is returning in January to Liberia, where he contracted the virus to continue working at a medical mission. Dr. Richard Sacra said he plans to spend about four weeks at ELWA Hospital outside Monrovia where he has served for more than 20 years. Sacra contracted Ebola in August and underwent treatment at an Omaha, Nebraska, Hospital. He returned to Massachusetts on September 25, 2014. He is a University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty member. He says doctors have said he is now immune to Ebola. Sacra made the commitments following a Tuesday news conference in Boston announcing $1 million state grant to help develop a faster, more accurate test for diagnosing Ebola, the New Democrat daily writes.