Hacker cut internet access in Liberia.

Liberia has been repeatedly cut off from the internet by hackers targeting its only link to the global network.

Recurrent attacks on November 3 flooded the cable link with data, making net access intermittent.

Researchers said the attacks showed hackers trying different ways to use massive networks of hijacked machines to overwhelm high-value targets.

Experts said Liberia was attacked by the same group that caused web-wide disruption on October 21.

Those attacks were among the biggest ever seen and made it hard to reach big web firms such as Twitter, Spotify and Reddit.

The attacks were the first to send overwhelming amounts of data from weakly protected devices, such as webcams and digital video recorders, that had been enrolled into what is known as a botnet.

A botnet variant called Mirai was identified by security firms as being the tool used to find and compromise the insecure devices.

The source code for Mirai has been widely shared and many malicious hacker groups have used it to seek out vulnerable devices they can take over and use to mount what are known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

“There’re multiple different botnets, each with a different owner,” security researcher Kevin Beaumont told the BBC. “Many are very low-skilled. Some are much better.”

For more than two weeks, my internet has not been working properly. At first I thought it was a problem with my internet provider, which often suffers from slow speeds. But this feels more serious.

Even when you do get online, the connection repeatedly cuts out. I’ve spent the past week trying to upload some photos and audio to send to London, without success.

A woman who runs a computer club for young people in the capital, Monrovia, tells me that they have been having trouble getting on to Facebook and that their connection has slowed in recent weeks.

The hotel I am staying at in the north-eastern town of Ganta is right next to the network tower of a company that provides my internet service, but the connection is still coming in and out.

The hackers behind the “huge” network that attacked Liberia, dubbed botnet#14, were “much more skilled”, Mr Beaumont said.

“The attacks are extremely worrying because they suggest a Mirai operator who has enough capacity to seriously impact systems in a nation state,” he wrote in a blogpost.

Network firm Level 3 confirmed to tech news site ZDNet that it had seen attacks on telecoms firms in Liberia making access to the web spotty. Other reports suggested mobile net access was affected too.

The attacks varied in length with some lasting only 30 seconds and the longest being sustained for a few minutes.

Net access in Liberia comes via an undersea cable whose capacity is shared with many other nations in West Africa.

“They’re trying a number of different techniques for short bursts, against the companies who own the submarine cable to Liberia,” said Mr Beaumont, adding that commands to botnet#14 seemed to originate in the Ukraine.

Mr Beaumont said the controllers of botnet#14 were refining their control of the attack system but it was not yet clear who it would be turned against next.

A Twitter account, called #Miraiattacks has been set up by a security company to monitor the many different attack targets hit by Mirai botnets. Earlier targets included computer security firms, schools, food-ordering services and gaming sites.

Exxon Mobil to commence drilling in Liberia.

Liberia’s hope of being an oil producing nation has been renewed with the announcement of plans to commence drilling by the Texas headquartered Exxon Mobil.

The company said on October 19 it would start drilling its first exploratory well off the coast of Liberia in November, report said.

“ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Liberia Limited, an affiliate of ExxonMobil, plans to drill a deepwater exploration well on the Liberia-13 Block, located about 50 miles offshore Liberia, beginning in November 2016,” a spokeswoman of the company was quoted saying.

The world’s largest publicly-traded oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp shares the Block LB-13 situated offshore Liberia With a junior partner, the Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL).

Cautious

The oil block, which was first acquired in 2013 has long been tipped as the first to fulfill Liberia’s dream of being an oil producing nation, a promise that has been dashed severally by a mixture of disappointing exploration results and allegations of mismanagement of the country’s petroleum sector.

Exxon is one of eight exploration companies Liberia has issued licenses to since 2010.

The others include Chevron, Anadarko Petroleum, Kosmos, and the Nigerian owned company Oranto, all of whom have remained laid back for various reasons.

Despite Wednesday’s announcement, however, Exxon Mobile was cautious about the prospect of the block.

It said it was “too soon to tell if any finds will be oil or gas.”

Expectations were based on similar finds off neighbouring Ivory Coast and Ghana to the east.

Suspected Nigerian Thief Brutalized In Liberia

The brutalized man in the photos above is believed to be a Nigerian man accused of being part of a robbery gang that terrorized citizens in Monrovia, the Liberian capital. He was caught after an alleged botched robbery on Monday August 15th. A Liberian, Arrington Ballah, who put up the pics wrote;


“This guy is alleged to be a member of a robbery group that has a black four-door pickup moving around Monrovia. Unfortunately, on Monday, August 15,2016 they had an unsuccessful mission that led him to how you see him in this photo. Before I arrived on the scene, it was said that one of the guys managed to escape into the 72nd Community swamp (directly opposite the new health ministry in Congo Town with with the fire arm they use for operation. He was never found. However, the angry crowd managed to get this guy (believed to be a Nigerian National) and brutalized him as you can see. Thanks to the LNP for having this guy transferred to the Police Station and listening to my advice. The unidentified black car escaped and on lookers alleged that the car was taken off by on quote-un-quote white man. The young lady who was victimized, after being thrown out of the car, was rushed to the hospital for treatment. Hummmm! Liberia, Where are we now in terms of security?”

Sierra Leone, Liberia Risk Ebola-like Outbreaks From Poor Sanitation

Sierra Leone and Liberia risk new deadly epidemics akin to the impact of the Ebola virus due to lack of clean water and hygienic conditions in most homes, an NGO warned Tuesday.

WaterAid said the two provisions were the “first line of defence” against infectious diseases but needed to be put into place before outbreaks began.

In Sierra Leone, more than 37 percent of people do not have access to clean water, the British-based group said in a statement. In Liberia, the figure is 24.5 percent.

When it comes to basic sanitation, WaterAid said the figures were even higher — 86.7 percent of people in Sierra Leone and just over 83 percent in Liberia live without access to it.

“The terrible suffering of the people of Sierra Leone and Liberia during the Ebola crisis is at high risk of being repeated in another disease epidemic if we do not see action to improve water, sanitation and hygiene practices in our communities, schools and healthcare facilities,” WaterAid’s Joe Lambongang said in the statement.

“These basic provisions are the first line of defence against infectious diseases including Ebola.

“To ask healthcare professionals to battle an epidemic without clean water, safe toilets and somewhere to wash their hands is unrealistic and needlessly puts lives at risk,” he added.

Read More:

http://guardian.ng/news/sierra-leone-liberia-risk-ebola-like-outbreaks-from-poor-sanitation/

Militants Demand Release Of IPOB Leaders As Condition To Free Liberian Ship

A Niger Delta militant group, the Concerned Militant Leaders (CML), has demanded the release of detained leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as the only condition for the release of the ship flying Liberian flag, which was attacked and seized along Bakassi Peninsula on Nigerian waterways.

 

The group has also disclosed that its next target of attack would be Frontier Oil in Eket, Akwa Ibom State. The vessel was reportedly heading to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Bonny, Rivers State, before it was intercepted by the militants.

 

Spokesperson of the CML, General Ben, disclosed that they seized the ship as part of their grievances against the Federal Government and as a means of crippling the economy.

 

Ben, in a statement on Monday evening, said they were yet to ascertain the number of crew members on-board the vessel, adding that they had every other information about the ship.

 

The vessel has the following details (excluding crew on-board), MMSI: 636015354; IMO: 9113551; gross tonnage: 25,202; country flag, Liberia; crude oil tanker and pilot, Captain Marcus,” he said.

The group ruled out any intention to dialogue with the Federal Government anywhere, unless it is around the Atlantic Ocean, which is their area of control.

 

The spokesperson stated that CML had not decided on what to do with the vessel and crew members yet, but would inform the Federal Government of their intention today, Wednesday, July 27.

 

He warned that no militant group should dialogue with the Federal Government until it addressed the agitation of the Niger Delta agitators, particularly the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which CML, in particular, is concerned about.

 

This is the worst government we have had since this democratic dispensation. People are suffering and dying due to hardship and government does not want to listen to the grievances of our people.”

 

There is no time again for negotiation with any government, and no group even the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) should not do that. Government should wait for us and expect more pipeline attack,” they said.

Why I Visited President Buhari – Ex-President Obasanjo

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday delivered messages from the Presidents of Liberia and Gambia to President Muhammadu Buhari during a visit to the presidential villa.

 

Obasanjo made this known while answering questions from State House correspondents at the end of the closed meeting.

 

Although the former president did not divulge the content of the message, he said he updated president Buhari on the outcome of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Africa Export-Import Bank, which he attended in Seychelles Island.

 

“I have some messages for the president.

 

“Not too long ago, I was in Liberia and The Gambia and the presidents of these two countries had some messages that they would want me to deliver to the President.

 

“Also, only yesterday I came back from Seychelles Island, where I attended this year’s Annual General meeting of Africa Export –Import Bank.

 

“And there were aspects of the proceedings during that meeting that I think I should update the President on.’’

Liberia After Ebola: Turning Midwives Into Surgeons

Before the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, the country had a total of 50 doctors for its population of 4.3 million.

In comparison, there are 50 doctors available to every 100,000 people in the US.

This, taken together with Liberia’s extremely high maternal mortality rate, which sees three women dying every day, means the health system is buckling under the strain.

 

Many deaths would be preventable with simple surgery and adequate equipment. A chronic lack of doctors, however, means that many maternity wards are overstretched and understaffed.

In this film, we meet the midwives being enrolled on ambitious advanced obstetrics and surgery courses to replace these “missing doctors”.

 

The process is called task-shifting and is run by the international charity Maternal Childhealth Advocacy International.

The Cure presenter Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng meets Dr Obed Dolo, who is helping transform midwives into surgeons.

Ebola Resurgence: WHO Calls For Resilient Health Systems

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that recovery from Ebola will be impossible unless resilient health systems are rebuilt in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The world health body in a message yesterday on its website said recovery in West Africa needs more urgency as the region’s battered systems have limited capacity to reactivate essential health services.

In the lead-up to a major fundraising conference for Ebola recovery, the WHO described rebuilding of the national health systems in West Africa as a critical priority.

“While the countries are still working to get to zero Ebola cases, staying at zero is inconceivable unless rebuilding of the health systems begins now.”

According to Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, “Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone entered the Ebola epidemic with severely underfunded health systems. After a year of handling far too many severely ill patients, the surviving staff need support, better protection, compensation and reinforcements. The existing facilities need a complete overhaul, and many new structures need to be built. If another outbreak strikes, the toll would be far worse.”

“Outbreaks of contagious diseases can flare up anywhere,” said Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO assistant director-general for Health Systems and Innovation. “But the size of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is directly related to the lack of resilience of the national health systems. In West Africa, the governments did not have the tools or resources to identify the initial cases or control the outbreak that resulted.”

“National pride will not stop a viral outbreak on its own,” said Dr. Philip Ireland, an emergency medicine physician at John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. “But it provides a strong foundation for building a new health system; the one we had collapsed under the weight of Ebola. The hiring of well-trained doctors and technicians, nurses and physician assistants should be our nation’s number one priority.”

According to a WHO report released in May, Ebola took an exceptional toll on health workers. They were 20-30 times more likely to contract the disease than the general public, given the number of patients they saw and treated. More than 800 contracted Ebola, and more than 400 died – with the outcome of almost one quarter of the cases unknown.

The health systems of all three countries need an exceptional infusion of funding and other resources, the focus of the United Nations Secretary-General’s International Ebola Recovery Conference (9-10 July, 2015).

“To rebuild their health systems and provide services from now through the end of December, 2017, Guinea has budgeted $1.176 billion and still needs to raise $386.5 million; Liberia has budgeted $550 million and still needs to raise $169.7 million; and Sierra Leone budgeted $361 million and still needs to raise an estimated amount of $140 million,” the WHO said in the statement.

A sizable investment in the health systems would be a profound change of course for the region. As with other low-income countries, the governments of all three countries have not spent enough money on health care to provide basic services, and the life expectancy of the populations has suffered greatly as a result.

Dr Kieny added, “In this interconnected world of international travel and porous borders, no one is immune from disease outbreaks. This is the lesson the West African Ebola outbreak has taught us. We need to ensure that health systems everywhere can detect and treat emerging diseases and still keep their routine healthcare services up and running.”

“When people think global health security, they think disease surveillance,” said Dr. Moeti. “Nobody wants to see the Ebola outbreak start in West Africa and spread around the world. But disease surveillance cannot happen in a vacuum. Emerging diseases cannot be detected and controlled if there are no laboratories, hospitals and heath personnel,” the WHO added.

Ebola Volunteers Return With Sad Tales Of Maltreatment By AU Officials, Nigerian Govt.

Nigerians who volunteered to help fight the deadly Ebola disease in Sierra Leone and Liberia, returned home a fortnight ago, after spending about six months on the frontline against a virus that ravaged several countries last year, killing over 20,000.

The volunteers returned alive and well, although they are yet to complete an expected 21-day quarantine period.

But they have sad tales of deprivation and maltreatment, and accuse officials of the Nigerian government and the African Union of stealing from them while they risked their lives.

On Wednesday, some of the volunteers were locked in a hotel in Abuja where they had camped since returning to Nigeria, after days of bickering with health ministry officials.

PREMIUM TIMES’ investigation, interviews with officials of the Nigerian government and the AU, and several volunteers since their arrival in Abuja, show a programme that was beset by crisis, poor management and fraud, worse than the hotel scandal.

“I have now confirmed that serving or representing Nigeria is a waste of time as the country treats those who have done her proud shabbily,” said Oladimeji Adepoju, a medical doctor volunteer.

Mr. Adepoju and 197 other Nigerian volunteers travelled to the two West African countries in December, to help stem the tide of Ebola. Their ordeal began even before they departed Nigeria.

Read Morepremiumtimesng

Ebola Cases On The Increase In Sierra Leone And Guinea – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO), confirmed on Tuesday that the Ebola virus is still raging in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Bruce Aylward, WHO Special Representative for Ebola in Geneva, told a technical briefing attended by health ministers that there were 36 new cases in the past week, which is four times as many cases as the week before.

Aylward said the findings were an indication that the virus would not go quietly and it would take painstaking efforts.

Finally! Liberia’s Last Ebola Patient Released

Liberia released it’s last confirmed Ebola patient on Thursday. According to the Associated Press, the patient was a 58-year old English teacher named Beatrice Yardolo who was undergoing treatment at a Chinese-run Ebola center in the capital of Monrovia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed with TIME that the country currently does not have any confirmed patients in its Ebola treatment centers. Starting Thursday, Liberia can begin its count to 42 days of no new cases—two times the typical incubation period for the virus. At that point, Liberia can be declared Ebola-free.

However, the situation is still fragile, according to the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Though MSF is not treating any confirmed patients in its Liberian Ebola treatment center, they still accept suspected cases. It’s quite possible that a person with suspected and later confirmed Ebola comes into their facility at any point.

“This is an encouraging sign for Liberia. However, there is no room for complacency as the overall number of new Ebola cases in [West Africa] has risen this week,” MSF said in a statement sent to TIME. “From the outset, this outbreak has been characterized by its unpredictability and geographic spread. People move easily over the porous borders that separate Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, so until 42 days pass without a new case in any of the three worst-affected countries we need to remain vigilant.”

Read More: time.com

Football Hero George Weah to Run for Liberian Senate

African football legend George Weah said on Wednesday he had quit his job as peace ambassador in his native Liberia to run for senator.

 Weah, widely regarded as Africa’s greatest-ever player, gave President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf his resignation letter on Tuesday in preparation to stand in Montserrado county, which includes the capital Monrovia.

“I am running for senior senator of Montserrado and that is my target now,” he told AFP.

Weah, the leader of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change, was quoted in a statement from the presidency as thanking Sirleaf for the post, which “enabled him to contribute to the promotion of peace and stability”.

The former AC Milan superstar was appointed in December 2012 after Nobel laureate Leymon Gborwee resigned the post, accusing Sirleaf of nepotism.

Weah’s job was principally to facilitate the peace process following 14 years of ruinous civil war which ended in 2003 after the deaths of 250,000 people.

Credit: AFP

Ebola: Liberians on Forced Exile

Henry Boley left Liberia to attend a conference in Nigeria just days after his twins were born. Now, weeks later, he can’t get home. Amanda Johnson, a 50-year-old Liberian living in Ghana, awaits her fiance’s departure from their home country for their wedding, but refuses to return home because of Ebola.

Hundreds of Liberians are stranded in Ghana, separated from their families because of poverty, fear and logistics. Some are waiting for flights to resume after most airlines cancelled flights to Liberia. Others are having trouble navigating or affording the circuitous route back by bus. Many others feel it’s too risky to return home, even if their spouses or children are desperately urging them to.

Boley and Johnson are neighbors in a camp for refugees just outside Accra, the Ghanaian capital, where they monitor the news for any signs that Ebola is slowing down in their home country. Their exile is likely to continue as the worst outbreak of the disease in history continues infecting more people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, with a total death toll of more than 4,500.

Ghana, which is still free of Ebola, has become the hub for an intensified international response to the crisis, with the U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response based in Accra. Ghana is one of 14 West African counties seen as being at risk, and authorities have set up at least three Ebola isolation centers across the country in case there is an outbreak.

Boley, a 40-year-old Christian pastor, has been stranded for weeks. He is bored and often thinks of his babies, whom he barely knows.

“I have been trying to get back to Liberia but it’s very difficult,” he said. “This is tough for me. I am the man of the home and when I talk to my wife she says to me that I need to be there. But I can’t do anything for her.”

Read More: http://news.yahoo.com

Cuban Medics Head for Liberia to Fight Ebola

Cuban medical team is set to arrive in Liberia to help tackle the spread of the Ebola virus, the foreign ministry has said in a statement.

The ministry said a 52-member team comprising doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, intensive care doctors, general practitioners, surgeons, pediatricians, intensive care nurses, anesthetists and licensed nurses will arrive in the capital on Wednesday.

The statement said the ministry was informed of the medical team’s imminent arrival by Jorge Fernando Lefebre Nicolas, Cuban ambassador to Liberia.

The ambassador said the arrival signalled his government’s strong solidarity with Liberia.

He added that Cuba’s commitment was geared towards enhancing the existing ties between both countries and acknowledged that the move would mark the start of medical co-operation between Cuba and Liberia.

The Cuban doctors are expected to be assigned to a newly constructed unit at the an unfinished defence ministry facility in Congo Town.

Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, Liberis’s foreign minister, said he was delighted over the arrival of the doctors and that he hoped the development would also help in strengthening the country’s health service.

Why America won’t Shut Borders to West Africa

ABC News chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser, revealed during a recent ABC News Ebola town hall event, on why America will not close her borders to West Africa.

Keeping people from leaving the Ebola-affected countries would be a “major mistake,” Besser said, noting that he saw aid workers, journalists and family members aboard his plane on his two trips to Liberia in the last few months, and that letting them in and out is important.

“You want to make sure that people who leave that area are being monitored and doing it safely,” he said. “You want to encourage people to go there who have expertise and can help these governments, these health workers, control this disease. That will save lives there and will also improve the health and protection of Americans right here.”

Varma said the biggest concern in America should be containing the outbreak in Africa. Until that happens, he said “we will always be at risk.”

“You can’t just wrap a wall around these countries and not expect people to get out,” he said.

President Sirleaf’s Doctor Son Avoiding Liberia

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Sunday said “the whole world has a stake” in preventing an unfolding catastrophe in Liberia, calling on nations to provide more medical experts and supplies to confront the exploding Ebola epidemic. But illustrating the difficulties of heeding that call, her own son, a physician, has stayed in the U.S., saying he can do more for his country there than at home.

“It is the duty of all of us as global citizens to send a message that we will not leave millions of West Africans to fend for themselves,” Mrs. Sirleaf said. In line with that message, the president in late August fired state officials who refused to come home from abroad to help Liberia battle Ebola.

At that time, however, her son, Dr. James Adama Sirleaf, was returning to his family in Georgia, after deciding to pull his medical training group out of his homeland because of mounting risks to doctors there.

He is hardly alone. Officials and physicians here say far more Liberian doctors are in the U.S. and other countries than in the country of their birth, and that their absence is complicating efforts to curb what has become a global health crisis.

Even before Ebola, there were only about 170 Liberian doctors in the country, and colleagues say many of them weren’t actively practicing. At least four of them have since died of the virus. That shortage has prompted repeated pleas from the Liberian government for more foreign doctors to join the fight.

Read More on: http://online.wsj.com

Liberia Health Workers’ Monday Strike, Setback on Ebola Efforts

Thousands of Liberian healthcare workers are set to begin an indefinite strike at midnight on Monday which could undermine the country’s effort to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus and leave several hundred patients without care.

Health workers in the West African nation threatened to abandon hundreds of patients in Ebola treatment units, clinics and hospitals if demands for better incentives, working conditions and protective equipment were not met.

A meeting to resolve their grievances on Oct. 10 ended in a deadlock with the government refusing the meet their demands, said George Williams, secretary general of the National Health Workers Association of Liberia.

“The government of Liberia has not changed their posture. They do not want to engage us so that we can talk,” Williams said. “Time is running out, by 1200 midnight on Monday morning, we will be starting the go-slow action.”

Liberia’s deputy health minister Matthew Flomo said the government was not aware of health workers planning to strike.

“What I do know is that the government has reached an agreement with health workers for their payment, which will be as of September, beginning Monday,” Flomo said.

But Williams denied the workers had reached any agreement with the government. He accused the administration of trying to divide the workers.

He, however, acknowledged that the strike would undermine the gains being made in the fight against Ebola in Liberia, but said they were confident the public would understand the reason behind their action.

“The problem is the government. The public should get angry with the government, not with us,” Williams said

“The public is aware that health workers are dying because they are not protected. Nobody is supposed to die while protecting lives, we have been calling on the government to give us protective gear but they are not doing so,” he said.

WHO- West Africa Ebola outbreak deaths exceed 4,000

World Health Organization’s most recent report provides that the number of people killed in the Ebola outbreak has risen above 4,000.

Latest figures shows there have been 8,376 cases and 4,024 deaths in the worst-affected West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The news comes as Liberian MPs refused to grant the president additional powers to deal with the Ebola crisis. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has already declared a state of emergency that allows her to impose quarantines.

 

US military Aircraft Arriving in Liberia

 Six U.S. military planes arrived in the Ebola hot zone Thursday with more Marines, as West Africa’s leaders pleaded for the world’s help in dealing with a crisis that one called “a tragedy unforeseen in modern times.”

“Our people are dying,” Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma lamented by video conference at a World Bank meeting in Washington. He said other countries are not responding fast enough while children are orphaned and infected doctors and nurses are lost to the disease.

Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he was reminded of the start of the AIDS epidemic.

“We have to work now so this is not the next AIDS,” Frieden said.

The fleet of planes that landed outside the Liberian capital of Monrovia consisted of four MV-22 Ospreys and two KC-130s. The 100 additional Marines bring to just over 300 the total number of American troops in the country, said Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the commander leading the U.S. response. Williams joined the American ambassador to Liberia, Deborah Malac, at the airport to greet the aircraft.

As vehicles unloaded boxes of equipment wrapped in green-and-black cloth, the Marines formed a line on the tarmac and had their temperatures checked by Liberian health workers.

Liberia’s Justice Minister Quits

Liberia’s justice minister has resigned, complaining that she was barred from investigating the country’s main spy agency, run by the son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

 Christiana Tah said in a statement on Monday she had been told she could not look into fraud allegations against Fombah Sirleaf’s National Security Agency. She did not give details of the alleged fraud. “I cannot be the minister of justice and not supervise the operations of the security agencies,” she said.

In a letter full of dramatic language but short on detail, Tah claimed her job had become “unbearable” since she had noticed a “determination to systemically undermine and gut the portfolio of relevance and effectiveness”. She did not single out any individual for criticism or give further examples of how she had been undermined in her work.

Tah, who was also the government’s main legal adviser in her role as attorney general, says she offered to resign in March but was turned down and did not raise the issue again because of the Ebola epidemic.

The president’s office made no comment on Tah’s statement other than to confirm her resignation had been accepted.

5th American with Ebola going to U.S. for Treatment

 American photojournalist who contracted Ebola while working in West Africa began his journey home for treatment Sunday, while a man who recently arrived in Dallas from Liberia remained in critical condition with the disease.

Ashoka Mukpo, 33, will be the second Ebola patient to be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center’s specialized isolation unit.

Mukpo was working as a freelance cameraman for NBC News in Liberia when he became ill last week. NBC reported Sunday evening that Mukpo had started his journey to the U.S. for treatment and that he would arrive Monday morning. Mukpo’s family said Friday he would be treated in Omaha. Hospital officials said they expected an Ebola patient to arrive Monday, but declined to provide a name.

Mukpo’s father, Dr. Mitchell Levy, told NBC Sunday that his son was “counting the minutes” until he could leave Liberia but that he was not feeling that ill Sunday.

US Cameraman in Liberia Diagnosed with Ebola

A cameraman working in Liberia has tested positive for Ebola and is to be flown home to the US for treatment.

The 33-year-old freelancer has been working in the country for three years for a number of media outlets, most recently NBC News. More than 3,330 people have died in four West African countries in what has become the world’s worst outbreak.

President Barack Obama has pledged federal support to contain the spread in the US, after the first case there. A Liberian man diagnosed in Texas on Tuesday remains in a serious condition.

The unnamed cameraman is the fourth American known to test positive for Ebola, all diagnosed in Liberia. Three American aid workers were separately flown back to the US for treatment and they are all recovering.

The man was only hired by NBC News on Tuesday, the US broadcaster said, and he came down with symptoms – including fever and aches – the following day.

After seeking medical advice, he tested positive for the virus.

“We are doing everything we can to get him the best care possible. He will be flown back to the United States for treatment at a medical center that is equipped to handle Ebola patients.”

The rest of the NBC crew including the network’s chief medical editor, Dr Nancy Snyderman, are being flown back to the US on a private charter flight and will be placed under quarantine for 21 days, Ms Turness added.

Liberia says may Prosecute Man who Flew to U.S. with Ebola

Liberia could prosecute a national who flew to the United States and was diagnosed with the Ebola for making a false statement on travel documents, the head of the West African nation’s airport authority said on Thursday.

Binyah Kesselly said the Liberian patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, was asked in a questionnaire as he left Monrovia airport if he had come in contact with any Ebola victim or was showing symptoms of the disease and he had replied ‘no’.

“I raised the question with the justice minister if we can prosecute people for knowingly making false declaration on forms where you willingly, knowingly and mortally put people’s lives at risk … She is of the opinion that we can,” said Kesselly.

“We hope he has a speedy recovery. We wait his arrival in Liberia: we will be open to prosecution. Knowingly making a false declaration is not a joke,” Kesselly said.

The Liberian government said Duncan failed to declare that he helped neighbor Marthalene Williams after she fell critically ill on Sept. 15. Duncan tried to arrange for a car to take her to a hospital, but failed.

“He took her on a wheelbarrow and sought help from a friend and called his office for assistance to take her to a health facility,” Information Minister Lewis Brown told the news conference. “But we know that she passed away in the wheelbarrow while en route to the health center.”

Duncan fell sick a few days after arriving in the United States and sought treatment at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital last week but was sent home even though he told a nurse he had recently arrived from West Africa.

By Sunday, he needed an ambulance to return to the same hospital, where he was admitted and tested positive for Ebola.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday that she was angry with Duncan for what he had done, especially given how much the United States was doing to help tackle the crisis.

“The fact that he knew (he might be a carrier) and he left the country is unpardonable, quite frankly.”

Sirleaf said she wanted Duncan to be sent back to Liberia once he had been treated “and then we will have to deal with him”. She did not give details.

He was the second Liberian to carry Ebola to another country by air travel after Patrick Sawyer took the virus to Nigeria in July. Eight people died from that outbreak in Africa’s most populous nation.

However, Kesselly said that while Sawyer was already showing signs of Ebola when he left Liberia — and knew therefore that he was placing other travelers at risk — Duncan had no symptoms when he boarded his flight.

Scores Possibly Exposed to U.S. Ebola Patient; Four Isolated

More than 80 people had direct or indirect contact with the first person to be diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus in the United States, health officials said Thursday, as 4 members of the patient’s family were quarantined as a precaution.

Dallas County officials said 12 to 18 people had direct contact with the Texas patient, and they in turn had contact with scores of others. All were being monitored and none had shown any symptoms.

A top health official urged U.S. hospitals to heed lessons from Dallas, where a hospital initially sent the ailing patient home, despite information that he had recently visited West Africa, potentially exposing more people to the virus.

Texas health officials told four “close” relatives of the patient not to entertain visitors and said they could be arrested if they leave their homes without permission through Oct. 19. The four did not exhibit symptoms, they said.

“We have tried and true protocols to protect the public and stop the spread of this disease,” said Dr. David Lakey, the Texas health commissioner. “This order gives us the ability to monitor the situation in the most meticulous way.”

“The order is in place until the incubation period has passed and the family is no longer at risk of having the disease,” Lakey said.

 Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said, “Unfortunately, that did not happen in this case… We just need to put that behind us and look ahead and make sure that in the future that doesn’t happen again.”

“This will certainly serve for the rest of a country as a cogent lesson learned,” he added in an interview on MSNBC.

First Ebola Case Diagnosed in U. S.

U.S. health officials said on Tuesday, that the first patient infected with the deadly Ebola virus had been diagnosed in the country after flying from Liberia to Texas.

The patient sought treatment six days after arriving in Texas on Sept. 20, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters on Tuesday. He was admitted two days later to an isolation room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

“It is certainly possible someone who had contact with this individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks,” Frieden told a news conference. “I have no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in the United States.”

“The hospital has implemented infection control measures to help ensure the safety of patients and staff,” the statement said.

Ebola: 7 Deaths & 18 Cases in Nigeria

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Nigeria now has 18 Ebola cases, after a fourth case was found in Port Harcourt, the health minister said on Wednesday.

The Port Harcourt carrier skipped quarantine and traveled to Port Harcourt, bringing the disease there. A doctor died in the oil city last week. Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said a patient he had treated had also now died.A total of 255 people were under surveillance in Port Harcourt, while 41 were in Lagos.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has said on Wednesday, that more than 1,900 people have died with a total of more than 3,500 people have been infected by the Ebola virus in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria since the first documented cases in December.