African Union Applauds Liberia For Opening Borders And Returning To Work

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Thursday, 26 February 2015; The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, applauds 20% of Liberia's households for returning to work after the Ebola outbreak, lifting its night-time lockdown and opening its international points of entry as announced by Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf last week.

The announcement was made shortly after the schools in the country reopened.

“These improvements are an encouraging sign of a shift toward economic normalization; even though the country just announced the confirmation of four new Ebola cases in the Margibi County, we are still witnessing an overall decline in the disease,” explained Dr. Dlamini-Zuma.

“There is still a lot of work to be done in Liberia and the African Union remains committed to assisting all three affected countries in West Africa to boost recovery on a socio-economic level. While food insecurity and self-employment numbers in Liberia are still disturbing, economic recovery has certainly begun. A good example of this is that the country has the lowest out-of-work numbers since October last year,” continued Dr. Dlamini-Zuma.

A week ago, the US government announced it is withdrawing troops from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia as local governments, local and international aid agencies and bodies are successfully mitigating the risk of future infections and are effectively treating those infected.

“We commend the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the resilience of the people of Liberia that made this positive development possible. The African Union and the people of Africa will continue to support Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, as these countries rebuild,” concluded Dr. Dlamini-Zuma.