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Liberia set for presidential run-off

Liberia set for presidential run-off

LIBERIA'S presidential election was still on track for a run-off after nearly complete provisional results showed President George Weah and opposition leader Joseph Boakai neck-and-neck, below the threshold needed to avoid a second round. Following the October 10 general election, Weah holds a slim lead with 43.84% of the vote, while Boakai has 43.44%, according to tallied results from 99.93% of polling places, the West African nation's election commission said. To avoid a run-off, the winner must secure more than 50% of the votes cast. The election commission said on Tuesday that ballots would be re-cast in two polling places…
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Liberia counts votes as President Weah seeks second term

Liberia counts votes as President Weah seeks second term

VOTE counting was underway in Liberia during an election in which President George Weah is seeking a second term after six years marred by corruption allegations and abiding economic hardship in Africa's oldest independent republic. Around 2.4 million people were eligible to vote in the West African nation still struggling to emerge from two civil wars that killed over 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003 and from a 2013-16 Ebola epidemic that killed thousands. "I am here to elect a good leader who will lead our country. A leader that will make school fees affordable for children to attend," said…
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Liberia elections 2023: three things the next president must do

Liberia elections 2023: three things the next president must do

LIBERIA, Africa’s oldest republic, is about to choose its next president. On 10 October, 46 political parties and 20 presidential candidates will compete for two million registered votes at 5,000 polling stations in 15 counties. But whoever wins will confront a polarised Liberia. CHARLES WRATTO, Associate Professor of Peace, Politics, and Conflict Studies, Babes Bolyai University Liberia is more divided than it has been since the end of its 14-year civil war in 2003. The war ended with the signing of a peace agreement, but its scars are still visible across the country. Frustration around the soaring cost of living,…
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US announces visa restrictions for those ‘undermining democracy’ in Liberia

US announces visa restrictions for those ‘undermining democracy’ in Liberia

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced visa restrictions for individuals who he said were "undermining democracy" in Liberia ahead of the country's elections in October. THE TAKE Blinken in a statement released by the U.S. State Department did not specify how many people were affected or identify them. The move restricts their ability to travel to the U.S. The policy is not aimed at the Liberian people or government, Blinken said. KEY QUOTE The U.S. visa restrictions target people believed to be responsible for "undermining democracy in Liberia, including through manipulation or rigging of the electoral process; use of…
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Saving the world, one coconut tree at a time

Saving the world, one coconut tree at a time

LAYMAH KOLLIE, BIRD STORY AGENCY WHEN Eleazer Barclay, 22, started climate activism in 2018, he visited six schools in Grand Bassa County, Liberia and asked the students to come with coconut seeds. "My objective was to educate the students and teachers to champion environmental conservation by planting trees. To start off, I asked the participants to come along with a symbolic plant, a coconut seedling, and on that first day, we planted 150 coconut trees on six campuses," said Barclay. "The most important thing was that the young students saw themselves as problem solvers. They also learned that trees provide…
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How green is my President? Liberia’s George Weah is leading the shift to clean energy

How green is my President? Liberia’s George Weah is leading the shift to clean energy

LAYMAH KOLLIE, BIRD STORY AGENCY AS soon as he assumed office in 2018, Liberian President George Weah, a global soccer star, decided to embrace renewable energy as part of his bid to effect socio-economic transformation in his country. His goal, as outlined in his plan, was to "eradicate poverty amongst Liberians who had been traumatised by civil strife and improve economic growth while addressing climate change and infrastructural developments". To curb the high cost of off-grid solar energy products, Weah, in May 2022, issued an executive order suspending import tariffs on off-grid solar lighting appliances and other indirect solar energy…
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‘Our hands are tied’: Liberia grapples with heaps of city waste

‘Our hands are tied’: Liberia grapples with heaps of city waste

CARIELLE DOE AS the sunset over Liberia's vast West Point slum, youth leader Archie Gbezay shook his head as children meandered around dense piles of trash, playing catch with jars of old hair product plucked from polluted puddles of water. Gbezay, 34, has seen his neighbours in corrugated iron shacks grapple with flash floods, a crumbling coastline and a devastating Ebola epidemic. But he cannot come to terms with the state of the nearby beach, patches of sand barely visible beneath the rubbish."It threatens our existence as people and poses a serious health hazard," he said of the trash. "But…
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UAE to suspend entry from three countries, Dubai updates travel protocols

UAE to suspend entry from three countries, Dubai updates travel protocols

THE 0 (UAE) will, from today,  suspend travellers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Namibia from entering the country on national and foreign flights, state news agency WAM has reported, citing a statement by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). The GCAA said the restrictions would also include transit passengers, with the exception of transit flights travelling to the UAE and bound for those countries. Cargo flights between those countries and the UAE will continue, as usual, the statement added. It said the restrictions were being introduced to limit the spread of COVID-19. The GCAA added that exemptions to its decision…
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Guinea declares end to Ebola outbreak

Guinea declares end to Ebola outbreak

AN Ebola outbreak which started in Guinea in February, infecting 16 people and killing 12, has been declared over, the health ministry and the World Health Organization announced yesterday. Health authorities were able to move swiftly to tackle the resurgence of the virus, which causes severe bleeding and organ failure and is spread through contact with body fluids, after lessons learned from previous outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Based on the lessons learned from the 2014–16 outbreak and through rapid, coordinated response efforts... Guinea managed to control the outbreak and prevent its spread beyond its borders,"…
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‘Liberia will bounce back from COVID-19 crisis with 3.2% growth’

‘Liberia will bounce back from COVID-19 crisis with 3.2% growth’

ALPHONSO TOWEH LIBERIA is in talks with China over debt relief and expects to return to economic growth this year of 3.2% after an estimated 3% contraction in 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis, Finance Minister Samuel Tweah told Reuters yesterday. Tweah said he had feared the worst when the pandemic struck last year, since the West African nation's economy was already fragile partly due to the winding down of some foreign aid flows after a 2014-16 Ebola outbreak. "We thought the economy would have collapsed, but it did not happen," he said in an interview. "That suggests strong resilience.…
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