Billionaire joins struggle against killer outbreak

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has said he wants to assist Liberia in the fight against the spread of Ebola.

Dangote, an investor and industrialist, made the commitment in a phone conversation with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Friday, according to a statement released by the Liberian government on Sunday.

Dangote volunteered to assist Liberia with medical personnel and other human and material resources to help contain the spread of the virus, the statement added.

He promised that his charity organization, the Dangote Foundation, will work with the Liberian leader's office to determine what assistance can be provided.

Sirleaf thanked Dangote for the promised assistance, and praised the businessman for assisting the government and people of Liberia.

She said the support will go a long way towards rebuilding the country's healthcare system, providing highly skilled doctors and other personnel during a critical period.

Dangote is ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 23rd richest person in the world and the richest man in Africa.

Liberia is one of three badly hit West African countries that have lost more than 4,500 lives, with healthcare workers affected most.

Economic catastrophe

Sirleaf said Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people in her country and has brought it to "a standstill", noting that Liberia and the two other badly hit countries were already weakened by years of war.

Appealing for more international help, Sirleaf described the devastating effects of Ebola in a "Letter to the World" that was broadcast by the BBC.

"Across West Africa, a generation of young people risk being lost to an economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders are closed," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said.

"The virus has been able to spread so rapidly because of the insufficient strength of the emergency, medical and military services that remain under-resourced."

In neighboring Sierra Leone, emergency food rations were distributed for a third day on Sunday to provide a nutritional lifeline to 260,000 residents of an Ebola-stricken community on the outskirts of the capital, Freetown.

The Waterloo area has 350 houses under quarantine, and the number of cases in the district is rising, according to the UN World Food Program. Packets containing enough food for 30 days were delivered to the quarantined homes and to Ebola patients at treatment centers.

The rest of Waterloo's residents went to 60 distribution centers to receive supplies. The mass distribution, which started on Friday, went smoothly for the most part, but was disrupted at two of the 60 distribution points by people pressing to get the food, said Gon Myers, WFP director in Sierra Leone.

Xinhua - AP

(China Daily 10/21/2014 page12)