Pengene skal gå til at genopbygge sundhedsvæsnet, genåbne skoler, støtte landbruget og få centrale og lokale myndigheder til at fungere igen i Sierra Leone, Guinea og Liberia i Vestafrika.
Blandt de nye midler er 500 millioner dollar fra EU, 381 mio. dollar fra Storbritannien, 266 millioner fra USA og 220 millioner fra Tyskland. Det største nye tilsagn kommer fra Den Afrikanske Udviklingsbank og er på 745 millioner dollar.
Udbruddet af ebola er det værste til dato. Virussen med tilnavnet “Dødens fortrop” har krævet over 11.000 menneskeliv det seneste halvandet år.
FNs Nyhedstjeneste skriver udbyggende lørdag:
At the International Ebola Recovery Conference UN Secretary-General in New York Friday UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Together, let us jumpstart a robust recovery process over the next two years, and usher in a better future for generations to come.”
As a follow-up to Friday’s event, the African Union will convene an International Conference on Africa’s Fight against Ebola later in July in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
“Fantastisk springbræt”
Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, who chaired the Conference, said Friday:
“This very encouraging response is taking the total resources pledged for the recovery of the Ebola-affected countries up till now to around five billion dollars (5,18 mia.dollars)”.
Dr. David Nabarro, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Ebola, said:
“The amount pledged represents a tremendous springboard for recovery. Everyone today (Friday) has stressed that the partnership we have for the response to the outbreak must be sustained in to the period of recovery”.
“Nej, Nej, Nej – kampen er ikke ovre”
Warning that Ebola is a “stubborn enemy,” the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma said “sometimes, humanity shows a very short attention-span and wants to move on” and he emphasized: “No, no, no, this fight is not over.”
Liberias Nobel Prize-winning President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, was speaking on behalf of Guinea, Sierra Leone and her own country, those hardest hit by last year’s unprecedented outbreak.
She noted that the funding gap for the three countries’ national recover plans and the regional Mano River Union plan is estimated at 7.2 billion dollars, which includes four billion for the region as a whole.
Beskrev, hvordan alt er faldet sammen
Guinean President Alpho Conde spotlighted the breadth of socio-economic damage caused by the outbreak.
He stated that health systems collapsed, investors and consultants have left the three countries, farms and markets had ceased to function, the trade and travel to and from the region had been compromised, tax revenues declined, and household incomes had been hard hit.
While cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone have been reduced considerably, new cases in Liberia show the need for continued vigilance given the regional risks.
Liberia was mid-way through a 90-day period of heightened surveillance and vigilance, following the completion of 42 days since the burial of the last person infected with Ebola virus disease when the disease resurfaced last month.
“We must not let up until we end this deadly epidemic,” declared World Bank President Jim Kim, who urged ongoing efforts to help affected countries get to – and sustain zero cases”.
