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Oprah and Rice To lead U.S delegation for Ellen's Inauguration - 12/29/2005 1:09:04 PM
Sidiki Trawally
Secretary of State Condelezza Rice will lead a high power delegation to Liberia to attend the official inauguration of president-elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on January 16, says the spokesman of the Liberian embassy near Washington DC. The press attaché Samuel Abu told Frontpageafrica Thursday that top US congressmen, State department officials and high profile businessmen and women, who will travel to Liberia to grace the historic occasion, would join Dr. Rice. He said multi-billionaire talk show host Oprah Winfrey is expected to travel with the delegation.
He said the consular section at the embassy is overwhelmed, and over stressed with a 50 percent increase in the request for travel documents by Liberians and non-Liberians. According to him, most of the requests are for new travel documents, renewal of Liberian passports and visas for non-Liberian passport holders. He said applicants with non-Liberian passports require visas, while Liberian citizens only require update and in some cases a renewal of their documents to enable them to travel to Liberia. “Most Liberians have passports that have expired four to five years ago. They want their books renewed for them to go back to Liberia.” Stating three reasons for the increase in the request for travel documents, Abu observed majority of the people that are going back home are doing so with the hope that peace has finally returned to their country, while others are returning to seek for jobs. He also said some of the applicants are going to Liberia to sight see, but that majority are returning for good. The Liberian embassy spokesman told Frontpageafrica that before the election, the mission used to receive few requests for documents for immigration purposes, including green cards and job applications, but that the number now has dramatically increased following the elections. He said the embassy receives 20 to 30 people per week as compared to 10-15 per week prior to the election. Rush for Liberian citizenship The Liberian diplomat also disclosed that several Africa- Americans are in high spirits to go to Liberia and establish businesses there, but they want to obtain Liberian citizenship in order for them to do so. “They are so serious. They know that the 1839 constitution has a clause which provides for immigrants from the United States to automatically become citizens, and even the 1986 constitution also gives them that advantage.” He said several African-Americans continue to lobby the state department and other organizations to make their aim become a reality. Abu said some of the lobbyists have already met with president-elect Ellen Sirleaf on the issue during her private visit to the US recently. He also told Frontpageafrica that the Liberian embassy continues to receive numerous calls from African- Americans across the country for Liberian citizenship, to allow them to return to their “motherland.” Abu is not certain if the increase in the requests for documents would end soon, adding, “We are observing the trend up to the inauguration and we anticipate that it will even increase after the inauguration.” The diplomat also disclosed that applicants, whose businesses were shut down by the late Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor's regimes are also in hot pursuit for travel documents to return to Liberia to revive their companies and other businesses. “Some of them also want to undertake new ventures,” he said. Abu also revealed that lots of Liberians in the US are selling their personal belongings including houses and cars to return to Liberia. “Some of these people may end up in places in government that they don’t know about. They have been out of the country for a long time, but are going with enthusiasm,” he noted. Accommodation a concern According to Abu, the Liberian government is seriously concerned about accommodating hundreds of Liberians and foreign guests who are expected to travel to Liberia for the inauguration ceremony. “The government does not have enough accommodations for the number of guests that are going. We know more than 500 guests are expected from around the world.” He said few of the five star hotels in the country, including the Royal and the Mamba Point hotels are fully booked and that calls made to other hotels in the capital by the embassy for accommodation did not yield fruitful feedbacks. On the Cemenco issue Abu said Cemenco, the lone producer of cement products in the country is overstressed and not meeting the demand of the consumers. He said the embassy has received reports that the demand for the product is higher than the supply on the market. “When people put in request for a certain quantity of bags, they don’t get what they requested for.” The diplomat revealed that Cemenco, which has monopoly as the only entity allowed under Liberian laws to produce cement is giving priority to the United Nations and other non-governmental organizations. He said the company is not able to handle the increasing demands for cement for reconstruction purposes. “Lots of ordinary people are denied, because Cemenco is not able to meet the people’s demand.” He said Cemenco wants to maintain the monopoly, but added that most of the business people applying for travel documents are going to Liberia to assess the situation and see what they can do to lessen the problem by importing sufficient products in the country. Consignments for Liberia In a related development, Abu disclosed that a US based group, Virginia Coalition for Liberia, with membership from the African-American business community has gathered several instructional material, medical and other equipment to ship to Liberia. The group plans to ship the items to the new Liberian government. However, Abu said transporting the consignment is a major problem. “We have already communicated with the group and they have assured us they will help in shipping the items. Right now they have gathered enough materials and continues to gather more for our schools and hospitals.” |
Abu said the presence of the secretary of state Rice and top officials of the United States government in Liberia, has enthused a lot of US-based businesses and individuals and others from the African-American community to travel to Liberia. “This will be the first time for most of these people to go to Liberia and see for themselves what things are like over there.”
