A consortium of leading Liberian and US-based organizations will Tuesday deliver more than 4,000 Valentines to the United States treasury Department to request the Department to help cancel Liberia’s mammoth debts.

 

In a press advisory, the leading advocates, including the Center for Democratic Empowerment (CEDE) in Liberia, Friends of the Earth, Institute for Policy Studies and Jubilee USA Network will call on the US Treasury Secretary General  Henry Paulson to "Have a Heart and Cancel Liberia's Debt."

 

The advocates will deliver more than 4,000 Valentines with this message to Paulson, one week ahead of the Liberia Partners Forum, an international donors' conference in Washington DC. The event will take place outside of the U.S. Treasury Department on 15th and H Sts, NW, Washington, DC at 12 noon.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Africa's first democratically elected female president, is working to overcome the devastation caused by two decades of dictatorship and a civil war. Much of Liberia's debts were incurred by the undemocratic regimes of dictators Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor between 1980 and 2003.
 
After one year in office, President Johnson-Sirleaf continues to face numerous challenges with 85% of the country's population unemployed and more than 75% of Liberians persisting on less than $1 per day.

 

The country's massive debt burden severely restricts Liberia's capacity to combat poverty: the debt totals more than $3.5 billion. Liberia's annual budget is less than one fortieth of that amount, and interest continues to accumulate.
 
President George W. Bush recently named debt relief as our "best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty" in his State of the Union address.

 

Debt relief campaigners are urging his administration to immediately and completely cancel Liberia's debt, rather than forcing the country to be tied up for years in the strings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank's debt relief program, which requires the country to pay off $1.5 billion in arrears, or interest and penalties accrued under the past brutal and undemocratic regimes of Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor, prior to obtaining partial debt relief or full cancellation.
 
The Institute for Policy Studies, Jubilee USA Network, Friends of the Earth, Africa Action, Center for Democratic Empowerment (Liberia) among others, have collected these Valentines as part of an effort to draw attention to Liberia's debt crisis. These groups will jointly release a report card on February 6 assessing progress by the donor community in aiding President Johnson-Sirleaf's administration in her first year.

 

CONTACT:

Institute for Policy Studies, 240-603-7905, joia@ips-dc.org (Joia Jefferson Nuri)

Jubilee USA Network, 202-783-0215, debi@jubileeusa.org (Debi Kar)