Statement from GCAP-Liberia on the announcement of the country’s debt cancellation

Liberian coalition of Global Call to Action Against Poverty alliance welcome steps to end country’s debt but vow to maintain pressure on IMF Sit-in planned at IMF offices, Mamba Pint, Monrovia, on November 24th

Statement by Samuel H.B. Quermorllue, GCAP Liberia National Coordination

“We want to thank the IMF for the steps announced this week, though far overdue, towards the cancellation of our country’s debt. Together with other Liberian activists, we in GCAP have been calling for immediate and unconditional debt cancellation for years so we are pleased our lobby efforts are showing the first concrete signs of success.

Every day that passes, scores of Liberians die because they lack safe drinking water, medical care, decent road networks, access to communications services, electricity, shelter, good food and clothing. Despite the progress being made in recent years, conditions for the majority of the population are still horrendous.

Our concern now is that process of complete debt relief is speeded up so that the Liberian people can feel the benefits as soon as possible. We intend to keep the pressure up on the IMF so that the process of clearing the funding is pushed through as fast as possible and other outstanding debt issues are addressed. To this end, we are
organizing a sit-in action at the offices of the IMF in Mamba Point, Monrovia on November 24, 2007 to state our demands.

We Liberians have suffered more than most from our long civil war, corruption and the abject neglect of our people’s well-being. Contributions of other nations to raise the funds needed to relieve our debt, is a sign of faith in our country’s ability to reverse the course of misery we have been on for too long and take our place on the world
stage again but we fear this announcement may not translate into a real change for our people.” (statement ends)

Chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty alliance, Kumi Naidoo, said in response to the news, “The announcement this week that the IMF is offering Liberia some debt relief is an extremely positive development, which is partly as a result of campaigning over the years by the anti-debt lobby. The national efforts were given a small boost in a positive direction by our recent national and global actions around October 17th when 43.7 million people in 127 countries took a a stand against poverty and our presence at the International Financial Institution meetings in Washington. Only through this kind of civil society engagement in political processes and institutions an poverty be
ended in our lifetimes.”

For more information go to whiteband.org or contact:

Ciara O’Sullivan, GCAP Global Press Coordinator, Tel: + 34 679 594 809
ciara.osullivan@civicus.org
or
Prince Kreplah in GCAP Liberia, Prince Kreplah + 231 653 30 15 ,
gcapliberia2015@yahoo.com

Notes to editors:

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is a civil society alliance of social movements, International NGOs, trade unions, community groups, women’s organizations, faith and youth groups, local associations and campaigners working together across more than 100 national coalitions/platforms. GCAP is calling for action from the world’s
leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality. In particular, GCAP demands solutions that address the issues of; public accountability, just governance and the fulfillment of human rights; trade justice; more and better aid; debt cancellation and gender equality and women’s rights.