Liberian Foreign Minister H.E. Ambassador Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., has said women empowerment in Liberia is reflected at the highest level, disclosing that women constitute 65% of Assistant and Deputy Ministerial posts in government, including two female Associate Justices on the beach of the Supreme Court.

   Speaking recently at the One United Nations House, Kofi Annan Conference Room in Monrovia, Minister Kemayah informed participants at the Liberia Configuration of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission that women empowerment in Liberia is reflected at every level of society.

   Minister Kemayah intimated that he can cite Her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia and Africa’s First Female President, and the current First Female Vice-President, Her Excellency Madam Jewel Howard-Taylor, as unique examples of how women have served at every level.

   He applauded His Excellency Dr. George Manneh Weah, President of the Republic of Liberia and Liberia’s Feminist-In-Chief, who continues to relentlessly support the empowerment, growth and development of girls and women in Liberia.

  The Liberian Foreign Minister made these remarks at the virtual ambassadorial-level meeting of Liberia Configuration of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, along with international partners with focus on promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality in Liberia.

  He said the focus of the meeting is purposeful, and remains germane to the peacebuilding agenda.

Minister Kemayah indicated that the government of Liberia deeply welcomes this meeting, especially that “it obliges us to reflect on the gender strategy adopted by the Peacebuilding Commission in September 2016, aimed at ensuring a more structural and systematic integration of gender perspectives across its work."

   Speaking further, Minister Kemayah stated that the Peacebuilding Fund’s investment in this essential domain serves as a thrust to the process of achieving national healing, reconciliation and the peacebuilding priorities.

   He noted that with such support, Liberia has been able to realize, among others, the establishment of gender desks in all security-related institutions, and a growing number of female personnel in the Liberia National Police and the Armed Forces of Liberia, some of whom are serving on United Nations peacekeeping missions in Mali and South Sudan.

   “His Excellency President Weah, in furtherance of his commitment to advancing gender equality and protection of women, championed and supported to the fullest, the passage of the Domestic Violence Act, the Local Governance Act and the Land Rights Act, all of which are gender sensitive," Minister Kemayah explained.

   "And in his response to issues regarding rape, His Excellency President Weah adopted a vigorous approach to deal with the issue. He declared rape a national emergency; appointed a Special Prosecutor for Rape; set up a National Sex Offender Registry; established a National Security Taskforce on SGBV, and allotted an initial amount of United States Two Million Dollars to help combat rape and other forms of SGBV across the country," Minister Kemayah added.

   He said under the directive of His Excellency President Weah, the Liberian Government, with support from partners developed an Anti-SGBV Roadmap 2020-2022. 

   "It is our understanding that this roadmap will need funding for appropriate implementation," the Foreign Minister said.

  According to him, in spite of the hurdles the nation faces in attaining its goals regarding the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution, the women of Liberia have long gained recognition. 

   He recalled that in 2003, Liberian women acted in a heroic manner and form to end the civil upheaval in Liberia when they embarked on a sustained mass campaign for peace and democracy, including in Ghana, which lasted until 2005 in Liberia. 

   "They forced warring parties and other stakeholders to negotiate and broker a peace deal referred to as the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” Minister Kemayah reflected.

   For her part, the Executive Director of the Liberia Crusaders for Peace, Ambassador Julie Endee, who outlined the role played by Civil Society Organizations (CSO), said CSO is complementing national peacebuilding and women’s empowerment intervention efforts.

   She said this is being done through a platform of four civil society organizations, meaningfully contributing to the democratization process of Liberia through elections monitoring, and electoral reform issues including support for affirmative actions to address the issue of women’s underrepresentation in Liberia.

   She disclosed that this initiative is being financed by the Carter Center and the Swedish government.

The Liberia Crusaders for Peace boss further indicated that the UNICEF-EU Spotlight Initiative – aimed to address barriers to women and girls realizing their rights and to ensure that they live a life freed of violence and all forms of Harmful Practices (HPs). 

   According to her, this effort is also being financed by the European Union through UNICEF.

For his part, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Liberia, Mr. Niels Scott commended Liberia’s effort in strengthening women empowerment and gender equality, including women's meaningful participation in elections, noting that he is also excited to see women represented at the ECOWAS regional level.

   Mr. Scott said on the issue of women under representation, they will support the process of strengthening the laws of Liberia through the Legislature to enact the 30% gender equitable bill at the National Legislature.

   In separate remarks, several ambassadors commended the government of Liberia for the progress being made on several fronts, including gender equality and the empowerment of women and ensuring that women have a voice on national issues. 

   The meeting was attended by several dignitaries to include Hon. Williametta E. Saydee-Tarr, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection; Madam Marie Goreth Nizigama, UN Women Liberia Country Director; and German Ambassador Hubert Jäger, among others.

   H.E. Ms. Anna Karin Eneström, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations and Chair of the Liberia Configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), presided over the meeting.

 

Liberian Foreign Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., has assured Guinean President His Excellency Alpha Conde of President George M. Weah's commitment to strengthening socio-economic ties with its northern neighbor, through the implementation of tangible bilateral projects—such as the rail link between Liberia and Guinea. 

 

Minister Kemayah made the remark when a high powered Liberian delegation, which was dispatched by President Weah to Guinea, held talks with President Condé on Friday, February 19, 2021.

 

 Minister Kemayah also assured the Guinean leader that Liberia will leave no stone unturned in ensuring a timely implementation of the agreement signed by the two Presidents in October 2019.

 

 That document committed both countries to the use of a connecting railroad to transport goods, services and people from Guinea through the Liberian port of Buchanan. 

 

The Liberian Foreign Minister also emphasized President Weah’s commitment to ensuring that no inch of Liberian territory is used to ferment insurrection in Guinea or any Mano River Union country.

 

He called for enhanced cross-border cooperation as a means of fostering stronger partnership between the two countries and peoples.

 

The Minister conveyed a request from President Weah to his Guinean counterpart for the hosting of a summit of the Mano River Union heads of state in Liberia. 

 

In response, the President of the Republic of Guinea H. E. Professor Alpha Conde re-committed Guinea to the rail link project, saying that both countries stand to reap enormous benefits for their people - including job creation.

 

 The Guinea leader urged officials of both countries who are responsible for the execution of the project to move quickly to ensure that it is speedily implemented.  

 

The Guinean leader used the occasion to thank President Weah for the strong cooperation between the two nations, especially in the areas of peace and security, trade and commerce.

 

He said he is also fully committed to ensuring that no inch of Guinean soil is used for insurrection in any Mano River Union country.

 

President Conde, who is the chairperson of the Authority of Heads of State of the Union, honored President Weah's request for the hosting of MRU summit in Monrovia under the auspices of the Liberian Government.

 

He then indicated that the date for holding such summit will be decided after consultations amongst the four Presidents are held.

 

During the trip, the Liberian delegation, which included Transport Minister Sam Wlue, Maritime Commissioner Eugene Nagbe and the National Investment Commission Chairperson Molehwuleh Gray, also held working sessions with Guinean officials to discuss concrete actions that are to be taken in order to move forward with the implementation of the decision of both leaders.

 

Guinea Foreign Minister Ibrahim Kalil Kaba and the Country's Minister in charge of Mines and Geology, Abdoulaye Magassouba, were amongst officials representing that country.

 

These exchanges led to the following conclusions:

1. That Republic of Guinea has now finalized the process of ratification and promulgation of the Protocol for the facilitation of the transport of Guinean-based natural resources.

 

 The Liberian government has been notified of this action and assured that all arrangements have been made to finalize the ratification as soon as possible.

2. To date, authorization for Guinean mining products to go through Liberian territory has been granted by Guinea for two of the eligible mining projects, which are now awaiting formalization and authorization from Liberia and commercial negotiations between the relevant stakeholders.

 

3. The two parties have agreed to start as soon as possible the operationalization of the supervision and monitoring bodies provided for, in the Implementation Agreement. As such, they have undertaken to do everything possible so that the first meeting of the Inter-ministerial Monitoring Committee is held before the end of March 2021 and that the first session of the Inter-ministerial Supervisory Committee is held before the end of June 2021.

 

4. For efficient preparation of the meetings of the Monitoring and Supervisory Committees, the two parties have decided to set up a Task Force whose heads have been designated by each party. The Task Force will begin its work without delay by means of videoconferences twice a week, which will be organized by the National Investment Commission (NIC).

 

The delegations also tabled the options of utilizing the existing rail and the construction of a brand new rail infrastructure.

EU-LIBERIA POLITICAL DIALOGUE

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

 

Monrovia, March 12, 2021

 

The Government of the Republic of Liberia and the European Union (EU) met today for the Ninth (9^th) edition of the EU-Liberia Political Dialogue. This meeting was held under Article 8 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States, which enables the establishment of a platform for regular and comprehensive political dialogue. The 9th EU-Liberia Political Dialogue was co-chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Ambassador Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah Sr., and the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Liberia, Ambassador Laurent Delahousse.

Both parties discussed a large number of issues of mutual interest, including the state of the economy and public finance and the implementation of the PAPD; creating the conditions for broad-based economic growth and job creation through business and investment climate measures; governance, accountability, transparency and anti-corruption measures; human rights, including the conclusions of the latest session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Liberia and the fight against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV); elections, including lessons learned from the 2020 mid-term Senatorial elections and Constitutional referendum, as well as electoral reform; public health issues, including Liberia’s response to COVID-19 and preparedness to Ebola virus disease (EVD); the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC); food security; education, including technical and vocational education and training (TVET); and the programming of the EU-Liberia partnership in the period 2021-2027 (following the period 2014-2020, during which the European Union’s support to Liberia under the European Development Fund amounted to around 330 Million US dollars).

At the end of the dialogue, both parties reaffirmed their commitment to continuing to hold regular political dialogues on issues of common interest and following-up on the conclusions and agreements reached in the course of these dialogues. The parties also reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the EU-Liberia partnership, and expressed their desire that the tenth (10^th) edition of the EU-Liberia Political Dialogue takes place in the second half of 2021.

Members of the Liberian delegation included, H.E. Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah,Sr. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Samuel Tweah, Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Hon. Mawine Diggs, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Hon. Williametta Peso Tarr-Saydee, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon. Frank Musah Dean, Jr. Minister of Justice, Hon. Jeanine Milley Cooper Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Ansu Sonii (Prof.), Minister of Education, Hon. Wilhelmina Jallah (MD), Minister of Health, H. E. Isaac W. Nyenabo, II, Ambassador of Liberia to Belgium and the European Union, Hon. Molewuleh B. Gray, Chairman of the National Investment Commission, Hon. Elizabeth Dorkin, Acting Chairperson of Governance Commission, Kanio Bai Gbala, Acting Chairman of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, Hon. Yusador Gaye, Chairperson of the General Auditing Commission, Cllr. Boakai Dukuly, Commissioner of the National Elections Commission, Hon. Emma Matieh Glassco, Executive Director of National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority, Rev. Bartholomew B. Colley, Acting Chair of the Independent National Human Rights Commission, Hon. C. Mike Doryen, Managing Director of Forestry Development Authority, and Hon. Edward Mulbah, Executive Director, Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Representing the European Union, besides the Head of the Delegation of the European Union Ambassador Laurent Delahousse, were the Ambassador of Germany Hubert J. Jäger, Ambassador of Sweden Ingrid Wetterqvist, Ambassador of Ireland Lesley Ni Bhriain, Ambassador of France Michaël Roux, Chargée d’Affaires of Ireland Kate O’Donnell, Deputy Head of Mission of Germany Joern Semmler, Deputy Head of Mission of France Hugues Nagy, Head of the Political, Press and Information Section of the Delegation of the European Union Juan Antonio Frutos Goldaratz, Head of Cooperation of the Delegation of the European Union Theodorus Kaspers, Head of the Governance Operational Section of the Delegation of the European Union Jyrki Torni, First Secretary of Sweden Arto Immonen, Second Secretary of Ireland Rachel Fitzpatrick, and Representative of the French Development Agency Mathilde Richelet.

 

 

 

(Monrovia, Liberia):The President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah is profoundly disheartened by news of the passing of former Ghanaian president Jerry John Rawlings. President Rawlings reportedly died on Thursday, November 12, 2020 while being treated for Coronavirus. 

 

The Liberian Leader has said the deceased former President will be remembered for the crucial role he played in the restoration of peace in Liberia. Ghanaian troops were part of a multi-national peacekeeping force from West African countries that helped maintained law and order during the height of the Liberian civil war.

 

President Rawlings, who led Ghana from 1981 -2001, personally championed the peace process in Liberia, including the organization and hosting of the many different peace accords, and his several mediation missions to Monrovia to meet with the country's feuding warlords.

 

President Weah extends his condolences to the government and people of Ghana, and the bereaved family, for what he described as an irreplaceable loss. He said Rawlings left a huge legacy not just with his compatriots, but Liberians as well. 

 

The President said "I will always have fond memories of my interactions with him particularly when we met at my inauguration and during the funeral services of the late Dr. Kofi Annan in Accra. He always gave me wise counsel.”