The Bureau of Public Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 Monrovia, Liberia

DAILY NEWS SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017

News of Liberia’s Foreign Minister, Marjon V. Kamara’s commendation to the U.S. government for assistance to the country is the lone story dominating today’s edition of our summary of the local dailies.

DOMINANT STORY  

Foreign Minister Marjon Kamara Applauds U.S. For Support to Liberia 

FrontPage Africanewspaper reports that Liberia’s Foreign Minister Marjon V. Kamara, says the Government and people of Liberia are grateful to the Government and people of the United States for the wide range of assistance the U.S. is providing Liberia. According to a dispatch from Liberia’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., Minister Kamara was speaking at the opening of the U.S-Liberia Partnership Dialogue at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, January 10, 2017. The Liberian Foreign Minister said through successive governments, the United States has remained a strong and reliable partner for nearly two centuries, and is currently supporting Liberia’s consolidation of peace, and its fledgling democracy, as well as economic recovery. Madam Kamara, who is heading a high-level Liberian delegation, indicated that the third U.S.- Liberia Partnership Dialogue has its origin in the landmark “Statement of Intent,” signed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton four years ago on January 15, 2013. That document, she added, established the U.S. - Liberia Partnership Dialogue as a framework for greater strategic cooperation between the two countries. Speaking earlier, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, underscored the special historical ties subsisting between the United States and Liberia, and reaffirmed U.S. commitment to support Liberia’s development process. Assistant Secretary Thomas-Greenfield, head of the U.S. delegation, said the Partnership Dialogue enables the U.S. and Liberia to identify areas of mutual cooperation and support for Liberia’s progress. FrontPage Africa

Reladed Captions: Foreign Minister Marjon Kamara Applauds U.S. For Support To Liberia(In Profile Daily), US Reiterates Commitment To Help Liberia(Daily Observer), US Reiterates Commitment To Helping Liberia (In Profile Daily),Foreign Minister Applauds U.S. for Support to Liberia(Heritage), Liberia Hails U.S. for Support(Inquirer)

OTHER STORIES

World Bank Pledges Support to YOP

A front-page story of the INSIGHT newspaper reads that World Bank Country Representative Larisa Leshchenko has pledged the institution’s support to Government’s Youth Opportunities Project (YOP) and called on other partners to join in supporting expansion of the project. Madam Leshchenko noted that this can only be achieved if donors support the project through a youth development pool fund so that more youth can benefit from their intervention. She made the remarks Monday at a program marking the launch of the YOP, a flagship program under the Government’s Agenda for Transformation (AFT) Policy aimed at empowering the country’s youthful population held at the Paynesville City Hall, the Insight newspaper reads.

To Reduce ‘Alarming Rate’ of Maternal Mortality: Stakeholders Brainstorm

In an effort to tackle what has been described as an alarming rate of maternal mortality rate in the country, stakeholders from the health sector on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 gathered in Paynesville, outside Monrovia to brainstorm on common strategy that will reduce the prevalent. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that about 830 women die every day through delivery with huge number of the occurring in South Saharan Africa. The Liberia Development Health Survey of 2013 report indicates that Liberia is among many countries with huge maternal mortality rate, the Heritage newspaper reports.

Streets Pavement Fever Hits Gbarnga-As USAID Targets Five Major Streets

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will on January 15 begin the pavement of five major streets in Gbarnga, Bong County. According to the FOCUS newspaper, the project is being implemented under the USAID Feeder Roads Alternative Management Program (FRAMP) and will be done with chip seals. Chip Seal is a pavement surface treatment that combines one or more layers of asphalt with one or more layers of fine aggregate. The Superintendent of Bong County, Selena Polson Mappy said the USAID Street Pavement Project will affect four counties.

Children Are Not Bread Winners

The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection Julia Duncan Cassell, has urged parents to take their children off the street, saying children are not bread winners for the family. Minister Cassell said the Ministry in collaboration with the Monrovia City Cooperation has started a campaign to send teams in various communities to advise parents to stop sending their children in the streets to sell. Speaking to UNMIL Radio the Gender boss also admonished parents to stop sending their children in the street at an early age to become bread winners as this exposes them to risks, reports the New Dawn newspaper.

Police Arrest Johnson Street Armed Robbers

Police in Monrovia have retrieved two single barrel guns and rounds of ammunitions following an armed robbery incident on Johnson Street Monday night where two money exchangers were robed and belongings taken away by the robbers. Police Spokesman DCP, Sam Collins said the police have also arrested four persons in connection to the Monday night incident to include 19 years old female who was caught with the weapon in Slipway Community after they have escaped the crime scene following the respond of officers of the Liberia National Police, the INQUIRER newspaper reports.