THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

NEWS SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, March 22, 2016

Today’s summary of the local dailies highlights news of The 17 million United States Dollars loan agreement between the Liberian government and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development for the construction of Gbarnga-to-Mendikorma Road project and the closure of Liberia’s borders with neighboring Guinea.

DOMINANT STORIES

GoL, Kuwait Fund Sign US$17m Loan Agreement

The New Dawn newspaper reports that the Government of Liberia and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development have signed a $17 million United States Dollars loan agreement to help finance the Gbarnga-Salayea road project. The road connects Bong and Lofa Counties. Outgoing Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara M. Konneh, signed Monday, 21 March, on behalf of the Government of Liberia, while the Deputy Director-General of the Kuwait Fund, Mr. Ghanem Sulaiman Al-Ghenaiman, signed on behalf of the Fund. According to a press statement, Mr. Konneh said the aim of the project is to enhance economic and social development of the central region of Liberia, while linking the country with neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone thru roads network. He said the project consists of construction works to attain an all-weather asphalted road of approximately 81 kilometers and a width of 7.5 meters with 1.5 meters shoulders on each side between Gbarnga and Salayea. Konneh added that the project also includes drainage facilities, reconstruction or rehabilitation of bridges, safety and environmental protection facilities, as well as consultancy services to review detailed designed, supervision of construction and institutional support and land acquisition. He said the project is expected to be completed by end of 2019.

Related Captions: Kuwait Loans US$17M For Lofa Road Project (Daily Observer), US$17m Agreement Signed For Gbarnga-Salayea Road (The INQUIRER)

Liberia Closes Borders - As Ebola Resurfaces In Guinea

Liberia’s borders with neighboring Guinea have, again, been ordered closed with immediate effect. The Government of Liberia, through its Minister of Information, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, said the borders will remain closed until the current outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Guinea is dealt with by the authorities in that country. Minister Nagbe told UNMIL Radio on Monday morning that the Liberian Government has already dispatched medical personnel and kits and Ebola prevention materials to the entire Liberian borders with Guinea. Minister Nagbe's interview follows excerpts from the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization boss Mr. Lemuel Reeves ordering all borders closed as BIN officers remain vigilant. Crossing points in Nimba that are bordering Guinea have also been ordered closed. According to the New Dawn newspaper, a recent outbreak of Ebola has already killed four people in Guinea since February 29. The latest outbreak has been reported from villages in Korokpara - 100km from the Ebola treatment center in Nzerekore. But the World Health Organization (WHO) is quoted by the BBC as saying that it is unlikely that a pandemic will occur again, as the country's health department was prepared this time to deal with the virus.

Related Captions: Guinea-Liberia Border Closed?-Due To Ebola Out In Guinea (Daily Observer), In The Wake Up Ebola Resurfacing In Guinea: Joint Security Closes Border With Guinea (The INQUIRER)

OTHER STORES

US$130,000 Health Facility Gets Underway In Bong – Africare, Japan Lead Initiative

A back page sub-lead caption of the Women Voices newspaper says Africare-Liberia has started the construction of US$130,000 referral health center in Palala, Kpaii District in Bong County. The Japanese Government under its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security program in November last year signed an agreement with Africare to construct the health center. Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony in Palala recently, Africare Liberia Country Director Earnest Gaie said the project will contribute to the building of a resilient health system in Bong County by enabling the government to adequately respond to health needs of its citizens.

Ellen Launches Historical Web

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has launched a historical website featuring a respectable female Liberian leader in the 1900s - the late Chief Suacoco of Bong County. The site also includes historical moments of the Firestone Rubber and Tire Company, which secured a 99-year lease of one million acres of land here in 1926. At the launching ceremony of the website to the project undertaken by a Liberian doctorate degree candidate, Mr. Emmanuel Urey and team, President Sirleaf described the initiative as a tremendous journey, expressing the hope that the site will be meaningful to all Liberians. She admonished a gathering at the Center for National Documentation and Records Agency (CNDRA) to appreciate the project as it focuses on history. “When people appreciate their history, they may also appreciate their own culture, beginning and potential. The website - www.liberianhistory.org, was launched under the theme “recollecting our history,” is said to contain nearly 600 photographs and more than two hours of motion picture footage taken on a 1926 Harvard scientific expedition to Liberia gathered by Whitman, writes the New Dawn newspaper.

Ellen Suspends Bong Technical College President, Dismisses Sinoe County Inspector

According to the Daily Observer, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has with immediate effect, suspended from Office the President of the Bong Technical College, Dr. John Flomo, for his involvement in activities, which is hampering the smooth operation of the College occasioned by the slow pace in the construction of the College Campus. Meanwhile, Dr. Flomo has been directed to turn over all properties of the Technical College in his possession to the Board of Trustees of the College. In another development, President Sirleaf has dismissed with immediate effect Mr. Augustine G. Swen, County Inspector of Sinoe County for Administrative reasons.

Related Caption: Ellen Suspends Bong Tech President (The New Dawn)

Gender, Sexual Violence Undermines Liberia’s Peace …UN Women Executive Director Tells Security Council

The Women Voices newspaper reports that The United Nations (UN) Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has told the United Nations Security Council that fostering peace in Liberia would be meaningless if Liberian women continue to be subjected to Sexual and Gender-based violence. A dispatch from Liberia’s permanent Mission in New York quotes Madam Mlambo- Ngcuka as having made the remarks recently during a briefing on the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) at the UN Security Council in New York. She commended the women for their extraordinary role to eliminate the recent Ebola epidemic, calling for women and girls to benefit from the dividends of peace. “Liberian women have continued to demonstrate resilience in the face of persistent challenges”, Director Mlambo- Ngcuka said.

Journalist Numennie Williams Is Dead

The Press Union of Liberia (PUL) and the Sports Writers Association of Liberia (SWAL) have lost one of their strong members following a protracted illness. Numennie Williams, who days prior to his death served as Elections Commission Chairman of SWAL, died this week. He served the Association as president. Detail will follow in our subsequent edition, Women Voices asserts.

Related Captions: Numennie Williams Is Dead (Daily Observer)

Health, Education: The Pillars Of Childhood Development – Says Ellen

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said health and education must be addressed simultaneously if Liberia is to achieve its poverty reduction goal. The Liberian leader said health and education are the pillars of sound child development and as such there is a need for renewed momentum around the issues of early childhood development in Liberia. She made the observation in a statement read on her behalf by Minister of State Without Portfolio, Sylvester Grigsby, at a handover ceremony of education and nutritional items to Lolonta Children’s Hut in Monrovia Friday. President Sirleaf stressed that community partnership-p around both pillars is “a viable way to achieve this objective”, Women Voices newspaper pens.

WHO Rescues Liberia’s Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) has rescued postwar Liberia’s health program with a donation of 17 jeeps. WHO also gave 150 motorbikes, along with several computers, to the health sector. The donation was made early last week at the Health Ministry in Paynesville. According to Deputy Health Minister, Tolbert Nyenswah, the vehicles and computers were intended for the various counties and district surveillance officers for integrated disease surveillance. Deputy Minister Nyenswah said some of the vehicles and computers had already arrived in the counties. Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr. Bernice Dahn, said the Liberia government was seeking to rebuild a resilient health system to promote health security for the citizenry. She spoke Wednesday, March 16, 2016 in Monrovia at the launch of the Electronic Disease Early Warning System (EDEWS) which she described as an open mobile-based interface used for reporting from health facilities, Women Voices newspaper reports.

Red Cross Recommits on the Provision of Fresh Water in Communities

As people globally celebrate world water day on March 22, the Liberian Red Cross has renewed commitment to focusing attention on the provision and sustainable management of fresh water resources. The LNRCS focus point Ambullai Perry in a release noted that many people especially in slam communities are drinking from creeks and wells located in swamps due to limited access to good drinking water facilities. The Liberian Red Cross release quotes Mr. Perry that there are often outbreak of diarrhea, cholera and malaria among community people, especially children due to poor hygiene and unsafe drinking water, a situation, he said is leading to the death of many children in the communities, The INQUIRER reports.