THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

NEWS SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Today’s summary of the local dailies includes the recent call by Vice President Joseph N. Boakai for African leaders to find solution to the continent's problems as well as the visit of Sierra Leone’s Vice President, Honorable Victor Boacharie Foh to Liberia.

DOMINANAT STORIES

VP Boakai: African Leaders Must Find Solutions to African Problems

The Heritage newspaper reports that Vice President Joseph N. Boakai has said the role of the African Union Support to the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) is a clear demonstration that Africans must look within the continent for solution to the continent's problems. He said peace, stability and good health care can come to the continent when Africans look within the continent for the resolution of problems and called on African Leaders to hold together determined to find answers to issues of conflict on the continent. Vice President Boakai was speaking Tuesday on Capitol Hill when a delegation of ASEOWA paid him a farewell courtesy visit, according to a release from the Office of the Vice President. Earlier, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission to Liberia, Ambassador H. Oluwatoyin Solaja, said they were grateful to the Liberian Government for the level of cooperation received while here, including the provision of an office space in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out their functions. He said ASEOWA operated a hundred-bed hospital and trained over seven thousand personnel for the treatment of Ebola and capacity-building, the release said.

Related Captions: VP Boakai Urges African Leaders To Look Within The Continent For Solutions (The Inquirer), Look Within The Continent For Solutions-Veep Boakai Urges African Leaders (The Analyst)

‘Happy To Be In Liberia’-Says Sierra Leone’s Vice President

The Analyst newspaper reports that H. E. Honorable Victor Boacharie. Foh, Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has told Liberian journalists that he is happy to be in Liberia. Quoting a Foreign Ministry release the paper says Vice President Foh, who was received at the Roberts International Airport (RIA), by Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, said even though President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is not in the country, he is glad that his “eldest brother” will take a very good care of him. He was also received by Acting Foreign Minister B. Elias Shoniyin and other Liberian Government Officials.  According to a Foreign Ministry release, he was referring to Vice President Boakai as his “eldest brother.”  Mr. Foh spoke with journalists at RIA few minutes after touching down to begin a six-day visit to Liberia, beginning on Tuesday, 22^nd September to 28, 2015.  Touching on the main reason why he is in Liberia, the Sierra Leonean Vice President stated “principally I am here to be the Guest Speaker of Cuttington University commencement convocation.” Vice President Foh stated that one of the universities in Sierra Leone has had longstanding ties with the Cuttington University.  Mr. Foh will speak at the 54^th commencement exercises of Cuttington University. During the Cuttington commencement convocation, Honorable Foh will be conferred Honorary Doctorate Degree for humanitarian services offered the Government and People of the Republic of Sierra Leone.  The Foreign Ministry release further stated that Vice President Foh is visiting Liberia along with a 12-member delegation, including the Second Lady of Sierra Leone, Mrs. Jonta Memunatu Foh. Other members of the Sierra Leonean Vice President’s delegation include the Minister of Youth, Honorable Alimamy Kamara and Dr. Jengo Stevens, Advisor to the Vice President, among others. The visit of the Sierra Leonean Vice President represents the long and cordial relationship that has so happily subsisted between the peoples of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Related Caption: Sierra Leone VP To Address CU Convocation (Heritage)

Unconstitutional: Liberia Condemns Burkina Faso Coup

The FrontPage Africa newspaper reports that the Government of the Republic of Liberia fully endorses the outcomes of the Extraordinary Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government held on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 in Abuja, Nigeria, which include the categorical condemnation of the overthrow of the Interim Government of Burkina Faso headed by Interim President Michel Kafando by members of the Presidential Guard. The Government of Liberia joins ECOWAS in calling for the immediate reinstatement of transitional institutions in Burkina Faso and Michel Kafando as Interim President. The GoL welcomes the decision by the Authority of ECOWAS to call for the unconditional release of all persons that were detained by the coup leaders. The Liberian Government stresses that the coup d'etat in Burkina Faso runs contrary to the cherished principles and provisions on Democracy, Elections and Governance as enshrined in various acts, protocols and resolutions of ECOWAS, the African Union (AU) and the UN. The Liberian Government is particularly heartened by the decision of the ECOWAS Authority to urgently dispatch a high-level committee to Burkina Faso comprising ECOWAS Chairman, Senegalese President Macky Sall along with the Presidents of Nigeria, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Benin to ensure the re-instatement of Transitional President Kafando and express the solidarity of the ECOWAS Community with the people of Burkina Faso. The Liberian Government hopes that the convening of national dialogues among all political and civil society stakeholders of Burkina Faso aimed at reaching consensus on the holding of free, fair, and inclusive elections would form a major and urgent part of the mandate of the Transitional Government of Interim President Kafando after its restoration to power as envisaged by the ECOWAS Authority. On the prevailing security situation in Burkina Faso, the Liberian Government calls on all parties to the conflict to fully cooperate with the mediation efforts of ECOWAS and to refrain from taking actions that will lead to the escalation of tension in the country.

Ellen Submits “Liberia Land Authority” Bill Senate Committees to Report to Plenary in Two Weeks

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf yesterday submitted to the Senate for enactment into law an Act to create the Liberia Land Authority. In her letter to that august body dated September 15, President Sirleaf said the bill puts into place the necessary legal framework for the establishment of the Liberia Land Authority that would undertake actions and implement programs in support of land governance; including land administration and management. President Sirleaf informed the lawmakers that when passed into law, the bill will ensure that the state through the land authority controls and manages effectively, impartially and in the interest of equitable development access to deeds of public and government lands. President Sirleaf concluded by requesting the Senators to see the importance of the bill and asked for its timely enactment into law, reports the Daily Observer.

VP Boakai Encourages Partners To Prioritize Agri-Business

Vice President Joseph N. Boakai has urged business institutions in the United States partnering with Liberia to give first preference to agriculture and agri-businesses to enhance sustainable progress. Speaking to a cross section of Liberians and American entrepreneurs on September 16 in New York at the US-Liberia Trade and Investment Forum, VP Boakai said, “We come to seek strategic partnership especially in areas of agri-business and agriculture value chains.” He said intervention in agriculture and agri-business will engender diversification of Liberia’s economy from overreliance on and extractive sector that has made the country susceptible to “exogenous shocks” such as fluctuation in global commodity prices. He stressed that Liberia is interested in natural resource development, mainly in areas of mining, oil and gas, as well as manufacturing and processing. He added that Liberia is also seeking collaboration in other non-trade sectors, such as infrastructure development in energy, road construction, seaport development, health, education and Information Communication Technology (ICT), noting that strategic public-private partnerships in such areas will have the greatest impact in raising the living standard of the people. “Liberia’s resilience in building democratic institutions and ensuring peace and stability over the last decade is the greatest guarantee for the security of foreign direct investment and capital flow,” the VP said. The Vice President encouraged American and Liberian private sectors to become catalysts for stimulating and spreading entrepreneurial spirit of Liberia and join in helping to open opportunities for job skills development and youth employment. The forum, organized by the Liberia’s National Investment Commission in collaboration with the America-based Developing Markets Associates (DMA), was sponsored by several groups including ExxonMobil, APM Terminals, Firestone-Liberia, Dawnus, KOSMOS, SunERGY, SoENERGY, International Bank Liberia Limited, among others, pens the Daily Observer.

Ellen Emphasizes Reconciliation For Peace

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says Liberians must se the need to reconcile to ensure peace and security in the country as a major condition for sustained development. President Sirleaf’s  statement was contained in a “Comprehensive Progress Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the June 30, 2009 Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) she submitted to the National Legislature on September 15, 2015, the Inquirer newspaper reports.

Ellen Named ‘The Face For A Strong Voice Of Women On Global Front’

The INSIGHT asserts that Liberia’s President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has been characterized by participants at the just ended G7 Forum for Dialogue with women held in Berlin, Germany, as “the face for a strong voice of women on the global front”. Speaking separately during the forum, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Co-Chairperson of the Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates, and the Executive Director of the UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcukia said President Sirleaf has worked over several decades to promote women issues, sometimes at “very high risk to herself and she has been the face for women advocacy”. The speakers said President Sirleaf has shown and demonstrated to women in Africa and the world that their roles cannot be limited to certain jobs, asking them to go all out and be the best for their communities, societies and nations, the state-run Liberia news agency said.

MoE Distributes 2.3 Million Books To Schools

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has distributed a total of 2,320,000 books to public schools throughout the country for academic year 2015/2016, Deputy Information Minister Isaac Jackson has disclosed. Deputy Minister Jackson named books distributed as 1.3 million supplementary readers, 1,000,000 textbooks and 20,000 teacher guides covering Math, Science, Social Studies ad English, the Inquirer newspaper writes.

Related Caption: MoE Distributes 2.3 Million Books To Schools (Heritage)

UN Security Council Gives UNMIL New Mandate

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has by resolution given the U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) a new mandate as its operations draw to a close by June 30, 2016.The  Liberia News Agecy (LINA) quoting an UNMIL media advisory issued in Monrovia Tuesday, said UNMIL Force Commander, Major-General Salihu Zaway Uba, and the Officer-in-Charge for Rule of Law and UN Police Commissioner, Greg Hinds, are expected to give details of the new mandate at a press briefing at UNMIL headquarters in Sinkor, Monrovia. The Security Council highlighted the significant challenges that Liberia still faces, including continuing problems with violent crime, Heritage newspaper reports.

Liberian Tailors Gear Up For Au Fashion Show

Liberian tailors under the banner, Liberia National Tailors, Textiles, Garment and Allied Workers Union (LNTTGAWU) are preparing to participate in the African Union Fashion Designer Show for the first time in Paris, France in November. The Secretary-General of the LNTTGAWU, Anthony B. Taweh, said over 15 Liberian professional tailors will join Liberia’s Fashion Ambassador, Madam Kimma Wreh, currently based in the United States of America to participate in the fashion show in Paris on 21 November. Madam Wreh is an award-winning Liberian fashion designer and founder of Tekay Designs mc, an international fashion label (founded in 1998) with manufacturing in Huston and West Africa. The textile designer trade fair is expected to bring together fashion designers from Africa, America, Europe and Asia, according to the New Dawn newspaper.

Related Caption: Liberia To Participate In Africa Fashion Design Show In France (Heritage)