KEY POINTS
The Chair of the African Union, President Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania undertakes a visit in the three most affected countries, starting with Guinea.
SRSG Ould Cheikh Ahmed met with President Johnson-Sirleaf during his familiarisation visit.
The last two free-of-charge flights are scheduled for 21 and 25 January from European Staging Area at Cologne Bonn Airport to the three most affected countries.
Key Political and Economic Developments
As part of a visit to the three most affected countries, President Ould Abdel Aziz of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and current Chair of the African Union (AU), arrived in Guinea yesterday and met with President Condé. The President pledged USD 400,000 to help Guinea in its fight against EVD, and also announced that Air Mauritania would operate flights to Guinea. The Chair of the AU travelled to Liberia today.
Today, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger and President Boni Yayi of Benin are jointly visiting Guinea to demonstrate their support in the fight against EVD.
SRSG Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed visited Liberia on 5 and 6 January as part of his familiarization visit to the three most affected countries. He was accompanied by the Special Envoy on Ebola, Dr. David Nabarro, the Assistant Director General of the WHO, Mr. Bruce Aylward, and the Liberia Ebola Crisis Manager (ECM), Mr. Peter Graaff. The SRSG met with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, SRSG Karin Landgren, response implementation partners, the Incident Management System (IMS), cluster leads and representatives of the diplomatic community. The SRSG emphasized that it is still a critical time for the response in Liberia, notwithstanding progress made in recent weeks. President Sirleaf noted that the situation in Liberia could easily worsen if sufficient attention is not given to cross-border coordination and further shared that she looks forward to a Heads of State meeting to follow-up on last month’s cross-border technical meeting.