Hundreds march in Sierra Leone against sexual violence

Yahoo – AFP, December 15, 2018

Sierra Leone wants to crack down on violence against women, particularly
sexual agression and rape (AFP Photo/ISSOUF SANOGO)

Freetown (AFP) - Hundreds of people demonstrated in Freetown on Saturday against sexual violence against women, days after the Sierra Leone government promised a crackdown on rape and sexual abuse.

Among the estimated 300 to 400 demonstrators was the country's first lady, Fatima Bio, who on Friday launched a programme called "Hands off our Girls" to combat sexual violence, child trafficking and prostitution, child marriage and teenage pregnancy.

The first ladies of Liberia, Niger, Ghana, Chad and Gambia gave their backing to the initiative.

Last month, President Julius Maada Bio called for life prison sentences for offenders.

The number of officially reported cases of sexual violence has risen from 4,750 in 2017 to 8,505 since the beginning of 2018, according to national police statistics.

The demonstrators were also joined by Justice Minister Priscilla Schwartz and Social Affairs Minister Daindu Dassama.

"I would advise the men in Sierra Leone to spare our girls," said Janet Kallon, an activist at the march.

"We want our daughters to go to school and to get an education."

Many sexual assault victims in Sierra Leone are teenagers, but younger children are also affected, with some abuse victims not even a year old.

On average every month, around 150 young women get pregnant due to rape, according to the Rainbow Initiative, a local organisation dedicated to the fight against sexual violence.

Ex-footballer Weah vows 'better life' after Liberia presidential win

Yahoo – AFP, Philippe SIUBERSKI, December 30, 2017

Supporters of George Weah celebrate after final results in Liberia's presidential
election confirmed his as winner (AFP Photo/SEYLLOU)

Monrovia (AFP) - Liberia's president-elect George Weah vowed Saturday to "improve people's lives" after the former star footballer secured a stunning run-off victory in the country's first democratic transfer of power in decades.

Idolised in Liberia as "Mister George", Weah is to be sworn in on January 22, replacing Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who in 2006 took the helm of the West African country first founded for freed US slaves.

The electoral board confirmed Weah's run-off victory on Friday evening, as his rival, Vice President Joseph Boakai, conceded defeat.

In his first public comments since his victory, Weah told journalists in Monrovia he aimed to "improve the lives" of Liberians.

"I declare publicly today that transforming the lives of all Liberians is a singular mission," he said.

A victory speech was however postponed after crowds of energetic supporters gathered around a podium for Weah's address grew too boisterous, an AFP correspondent said.

Weah, 51, who starred in top-flight football at Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan in the 1990s and briefly at Chelsea and Manchester City before entering politics in 2002, won 61.5 percent of the ballot, taking 14 of Liberia's 15 counties.

Boakai said he had called Weah to congratulate him and appealed for unity, saying: "My love for the country is far (more) profound than my desire for the presidency."

The White House called the vote "a major milestone for Liberia's democracy" while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres applauded "all Liberians for the successful completion of the elections process, which was conducted in a peaceful environment".

Former international football star and Liberia's president-elect George Weah told

 reporters he would aim to 'build on the gains' of his predecessor Ellen Johnson 

Sirleaf (AFP Photo/Zoom DOSSO)

'Don't forget your roots'

The tumultuous events of the past 70 years in Liberia, where an estimated 250,000 people died during back-to-back civil wars between 1989-2003, have prevented a democratic handover from taking place since 1944.

Sirleaf's predecessor Charles Taylor fled the country in 2003, hoping to avoid prosecution for funding rebel groups in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Two presidents who served prior to Taylor were assassinated.

The Sirleaf administration guided the nation out of the ruins of war and through the horrors of the 2014-16 Ebola crisis, but is accused of failing to combat poverty and corruption.

Weah said he would aim to "build on the institutional gains made under Madame Sirleaf".

His former club Paris Saint-Germain tweeted its congratulations to the "world football legend on the latest chapter of his brilliant career!!!" while former Chelsea star Didier Drogba, Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure and Marseille's former Cameroon midfielder Stephane Mbia also sent their best wishes.

Weah, who grew up in grinding poverty, is already facing pressure to improve the lives of millions of Liberians.

"I think the Liberian people will expect... Weah's presidency to (have a) pro-poor, pro-growth policy that will put the people at the centre of national development," said political analyst Vita Ishmael Tue.

Profile of George Weah who won the Liberian election (AFP Photo/
Paul DEFOSSEUX)

He added that he expected Weah's presidency to see power "given to the people; the provision of education, youth training for disadvantaged and vulnerable youths that are on the streets and who see themselves in him".

Clinton Taryor from Weah's CDC party urged the new leader: "Mr. President, don't forget your roots. We are not behind you because you're handsome or because you are a star.... Some of us are behind you because we know that you walked in our shoes."

Weah, the only African ever to have won both FIFA's World Player of the Year and the coveted Ballon D'Or, missed out on the presidency in a 2005 bid.

His latest campaign was not without controversy, however.

He has drawn some criticism for picking Jewel Howard-Taylor, the powerful ex-wife of former warlord and president Charles Taylor, as his vice-president. Taylor is serving a 50-year sentence in a British jail for war crimes.

Weah also had the backing of a notorious former warlord Prince Johnson, who sipped a beer as his men tortured former president Samuel Kanyon Doe to death.

Liberia's Ellen Sirleaf: a women's icon with nerves of steel who made history in 2005 when she became Africa's first elected female president https://t.co/kV5HusXMUw pic.twitter.com/KLUovkLajE

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 30, 2017

Netanyahu woos West African leaders at Liberia summit

Yahoo – AFP, June 4, 2017

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu told ECOWAS head Ellen Johnson Sirleaf:
'Israel is coming back to Africa' (AFP Photo/Zoom DOSSO)

Monrovia (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday joined West African leaders at a summit in Liberia, where they hailed peacekeeping efforts in the region but warned about threats to stability.

Netanyahu, who had visited east Africa in July 2016, vowed that they had "no better partner" than his country after he was received by Liberian President and outgoing head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

"Israel is coming back to Africa and Africa is coming back to Israel. I believe in Africa. I believe in its potential, present and future. It is a continent on the rise," said the Israeli leader.

"Africans are seizing the future. Israel wants to seize this future with you. You truly have no better partner for this mission than Israel," he added.

Sirleaf hailed the contribution of ECOWAS forces in restoring peace in her country, wracked by a bloody civil war from 1989-2003.

"This marks a turning point in the post-conflict recovery in the reconstruction of our country," she said. "Many ECOWAS citizens made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives for the uninterrupted peace we continue to enjoy.

But she warned "Today, terrorist attacks are endangering the stability in our regions."

On Saturday a Gambian protester died of gunshot wounds after being shot as supporters of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh clashed with ECOWAS forces, deployed in the country since January.

Dutch businessman found guilty of war crimes in Liberia

DutchNews, April 21, 2017

Photo: Depositphotos

A Dutch businessman has been found guilty of war crimes and smuggling weapons into Liberia by the appeal court in Den Bosch in the latest twist in a legal case dating back over 10 years. 

Guus Kouwenhoven, now 74, had been earlier found not guilty of the charges but the Supreme Court in 2010 ordered the case be heard again. Judges sentenced him to 19 years in prison, one year less than the public prosecution department had demanded. 

On Friday Kouwenhoven was found guilty of delivering weapons to Liberian dictator Charles Taylor in 2000 and 2002 in return for special treatment for his timber company. The weapons deliveries broke international embargoes. 

Some 150,000 people were killed during the Liberian civil war. Taylor was eventually deposed in 20013 and sentenced to 50 years in jail. 

Kouwenhoven was first sentenced to eight years in prison for breaking the UN arms embargo on Liberia in 2006. That sentence was later overturned on appeal in 2008. 

Then in 2010, the Supreme Court said later the appeal court was wrong to refuse to hear two key witnesses who could only give evidence anonymously and ordered the case to be heard again. 

Kouwenhoven, who is in poor health, was not in court to hear the verdict. He has always denied the charges.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylos was sentenced to 

50 years in prison in 2013

Related Articles:

Dutch court jails Charles Taylor arms supplier for 19 years

Charles Taylor sentenced to 50 years

WHO declares Ebola outbreak over

Yahoo – AFP, Zoom Dosso, January 14, 2016

The worst Ebola outbreak ravaged west Africa over two years, infecting -- by the
most conservative estimates -- almost 29,000 people and killing more than
11,000 (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

Monrovia (AFP) - The world breathed a sigh of relief Thursday as a two-year Ebola epidemic that killed 11,000 and triggered a global health alert was declared over, with Liberia the last country given the all-clear.

The deadliest outbreak in the history of the feared tropical virus wrecked the economies and health systems of the three worst-hit west African nations after it emerged in southern Guinea in December 2013.

At its peak, it devastated Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with bodies piling up in the streets and overwhelmed hospitals recording hundreds of new cases a week.

Rick Brennan, the World Health Organization's chief of emergency risk management, hailed an important milestone but told reporters in Geneva that "the job is still not done", pointing out that there had already been 10 small flare-ups because of the persistance of the virus in survivors.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned the region can expect sporadic cases in the coming year but added "we also expect the potential and frequency of those flare-ups to decrease over time".

Reaction to the announcement was muted in Monrovia, where locals have become accustomed to good news on Ebola being followed by setbacks, and there was no official programme of celebration.

Aminata Kanneh, a 32-year-old entrepreneur, told AFP people were "no longer afraid" because recent flare-ups were dealt with quickly.

"The pronouncement today is a joy but does not call for celebration because we may experience another outbreak," she said.

Map locating coun tries caught up in the Ebola epidemic and a comparison with
recent outbreaks. 135 x 84mm (AFP Photo/I. de Véricourt/A.Bommenel, K Tian)

No celebration

Liberia, the country worst hit by the outbreak with 4,800 deaths, discharged its last two patients from hospital -- the father and younger brother of a 15-year-old victim -- on December 3, 2015.

Africa's oldest republic was the last country still afflicted by the outbreak that infected almost 29,000 people and claimed 11,315 lives, according to official data.

The real toll is suspected to be much higher, with many Ebola deaths believed to have gone unreported.

After the last patient is declared in the clear, a 42-day countdown -- twice the incubation period of the virus -- begins before the country is proclaimed Ebola-free.

Ebola causes severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea. In many cases it shuts down organs and causes unstoppable internal bleeding. Patients often succumb within days.

From a Guinean infant who was the first victim, the epidemic quickly spread into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, notching up more deaths than all other Ebola outbreaks combined.

Liberia was first to be declared free of human-to-human Ebola transmission in May, only to see the virus resurface six weeks later.

It was officially credited with beating the epidemic for a second time in September before another small cluster of cases emerged.

Health workers assist a patient suspected of having Ebola on their way to a

 treatment centre run by the French Red Cross in Patrice, Guinea, on 

November 21, 2014 (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

Economic ruin

The WHO came under fire for its sluggish response to the epidemic, which local healthcare systems were woefully underequipped to handle. Over 500 healthcare workers died in three west African countries at the height of the outbreak.

Brennan acknowledged the WHO's initial inertia but said the organisation had "done a lot of soul-searching", pointing to a "major reform" it is undergoing.

While Cuba sent doctors, Western governments offered little until foreign aid workers started falling ill and returning home for treatment, sparking fears of a global pandemic.

The concerns inched higher when three cases of infections came to light outside Africa -- two in the United States and one in Spain.

The US, Britain and other countries eventually rallied to the cause, sending thousands of troops and medics to Africa in 2014 and developing a number of promising potential vaccines and treatments.

But the economic ravages of the epidemic are still being felt.

The World Bank estimates the economic damage of the outbreak, which devastated the mining, agriculture and tourism industries in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, at $2.2 billion over 2014-15.

WHO director Margaret Chan described the next three months as "the most critical," as foreign medical groups shut down operations in west Africa and national health ministries take over.

The scientific community echoed the WHO's cautious tone, noting that much research still had to be carried out on Ebola, despite claims by Russia on Wednesday, with little accompanying detail, that it had come up with a vaccine.

Related Article:

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness

One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!

Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!

Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?

When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?

Ebola

Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.

There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.

Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”

Guinea Ebola outbreak over, WHO declares

Yahoo – AFP, Mouctar Bah with Ben Simon in Geneva, December 29, 2015

A health official works at the Ebola treatment centre run by the French red cross
society in Macenta, Guinea on November 20, 2014 (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

Conakry (AFP) - The UN's health agency on Tuesday declared Guinea's Ebola outbreak over two years after it emerged, spreading death across west Africa and pushing the region's worst-hit communities to the brink of collapse.

One of the poorest nations in the world, the former French colony was the host for "patient zero" -- an infant who became the first victim -- and health authorities went on to record some 2,500 deaths.

"The epidemic of Ebola virus disease in Guinea is over," Mohamed Belhoucine, the World Health Organization's local representative, announced in the capital Conakry.

The fever spread stealthily and terrifyingly from December 2013, striking two neighbouring countries, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with sporadic cases also in Mali, Nigeria and Senegal.

People gather for a concert to celebrate 

Guinea reaching the final stages of the

 battle with the Ebola epidemic on 

September 26, 2015 in Conakry 

(AFP Photo/Cellou Binani)

As world health watchdogs struggled to respond, deaths mounted at a dizzying rate, igniting fears in Europe and elsewhere of a virus that transgressed borders and national controls.

Around 11,300 people died out of almost 29,000 recorded cases, according to a WHO tally that many experts believe greatly understates the real impact of the outbreak.

Paying tribute to Guineans for "standing their ground and fighting with courage", Belhoucine also acknowledged the international community's help in battling the outbreak.

"At the peak of the epidemic... the country recorded hundreds of cases per week. The social fabric was severely tested," he said.

The last known case in Guinea was a three-month-old named Nubia, who was born with the disease but whose recovery was confirmed on November 16.

That triggered the countdown to the announcement, as a period of 42 days -- twice the virus's maximum incubation period -- is required to declare a country free of transmission.

'Au revoir, Ebola'

The WHO declared Sierra Leone' epidemic over on November 7, while Liberia discharged its last known Ebola cases on December 3.

President Alpha Conde is expected at an celebration in Conakry on Wednesday, flanked by representatives from donor countries and dozens of organisations involved in the recovery, from Doctors without Borders to the Red Cross.

Guests will pay tribute to the 115 health workers who died fighting Ebola and eight members of an Ebola awareness team killed by hostile locals in Guinea's forested southeast.

A range of top African musicians, including Youssou N'Dour and Mory Kante, will take to the stage for a "memorial" concert -- entitled "Bye-bye, au revoir Ebola" in the francophone country.

Amid the jubilation and hope for a return to normality, experts have sounded a note of caution, as the virus has been shown to persist in the sperm and other body fluids of survivors significantly longer than previously thought.

Shattered economies

Liberia was declared free of human-to-human transmission in May and again in September, but both times the fever resurfaced in small clusters.

"We have to be very careful because, even if open transmission has been stopped, the disease has not been totally defeated," said Alpha Seny Souhmah, a Guinean health technician and Ebola survivor.

The WHO said in a statement from Geneva that Guinea had entered a 90-day period of "heightened surveillance" to ensure any new cases are identified quickly before they could spread.

Guineans battling Ebola have been faced with huge obstacles, not least the country's grinding poverty and a crumbling medical infrastructure.

Frontline workers have also had to combat the rumour mill, entrenched denial, fear of Ebola stigma and resistance to confinement measures deemed authoritarian or unreasonable.

They also had to persuade people to abandon funeral traditions whereby mourners touch the body of their loved one -- a potent pathway to infection.

The epidemic devastated the economies of the worst-hit countries, as crops rotted in the fields, mines were abandoned and goods could not get to market.

Strong recent growth has been curtailed in Guinea and while Liberia has resumed growth, Sierra Leone is facing a severe recession, according to the World Bank, which has mobilised $1.62 billion for Ebola response and recovery efforts.

The bank's group president Jim Yong Kim called for continued support for Guinea and its neighbours, vowing to "do everything we can to help these countries and the world prevent another deadly pandemic".

WHO: No new Ebola cases in West Africa last week

The World Heath Organization has reported no new cases of Ebola in West Africa last week. The health body has said this is the first time there have been no new cases for a week since the outbreak spread in March 2014.

Deutsche Welle, 8 Oct 2015

The World Health Organization has said there were no new cases of Ebola reported in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in the week to October 4, the first time since March 2014 a week has passed without any new cases being reported.

The healthy body said in a report on Wednesday that there "remains a near-term risk of further cases" of the deadly virus, which has killed 11,297 people out of 28,421 infected since the outbreak began.

Over 500 contacts remain under follow-up in #Guinea. There is still risk of further #Ebola cases https://t.co/ynpg1HaJHq

— WHO (@WHO) 7 oktober 2015

There have been less than 10 confirmed cases per week for the past 11 weeks across the West African countries, while instances of transmission have been geographically limited to small areas. WHO said this marks "a transition to a distinct, third phase of the epidemic."

In Guinea, more than 500 people remain under follow-up and some 290 people who may have had contact with someone infected with the virus remain untraceable, WHO said.

Sierra Leone has gone three consecutive weeks without a new case of Ebola. The last person to receive treatment in the country was released on September 26, but two high risk contacts remain untraced. The country must now wait 42 days to be declared free of the virus.

Liberia was declared free of Ebola on September 3.

Related Article:

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness

One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!

Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!

Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?

When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?

Ebola

Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.

There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.

Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”

Breakthrough in quest for Ebola vaccine

Yahoo – AFP, Mariette Le Roux, 31 July 2015

The World Health Organization began human trials of the VSV-ZEBOV

vaccine across Guinea in March 2015 (AFP Photo/Cellou Binani)

Paris (AFP) - An Ebola test vaccine provided blanket protection in a field trial in Guinea, said researchers Friday, possibly heralding "the beginning of the end" for the devastating West African outbreak that has killed thousands.

The serum was 100-percent effective, after a week, in more than 7,600 people innoculated, according to results published in The Lancet and hailed as "extremely promising" by World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan.

Health workers assist an Ebola patient at

 the Kenema treatment centre in Sierra

 Leone run by the Red Cross Society, on

 November 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Francisco

Leong)

The world was "on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine," the UN's health agency said in a statement.

"The initial results of the study show that the vaccine can effectively contain the further spread of the Ebola virus," said the University of Bern, which contributed to the research.

Though encouraging, the results are "interim" and the vaccine will not become immediately available as a community-wide Ebola shield, experts cautioned.

About 28,000 people have been infected in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since late 2013, according to the WHO. Nearly half have died, but there is thought to be a large undercount of cases and deaths.

Having brought an already fragile health sector to its knees, and driving out much-needed investment, the outbreak has started winding down but is not over.

Seven cases were confirmed the week ending in July 26 -- four in Guinea and three in Sierra Leone -- the lowest weekly total for over a year.

But even a single undetected case can spark a flareup -- the virus spreads through direct contact with body fluids.

"An effective vaccine will be another very important tool for both current and future Ebola outbreaks," said Chan.

Liberian health workers burn clothes

belonging to patients at an Ebola clinic in

 Monrovia, as the virus raged West Africa

in 2014 (AFP Photo/Pascal Guyot)

The trial, backed by drug firm Merck, the WHO and the governments of Canada, Norway and Guinea, saw 4,123 high-risk people vaccinated immediately after someone close to the trial participant fell ill with the haemorrhagic fever.

None of the vaccinated group caught the virus.

A second, comparison group of 3,528 people received the vaccine three weeks after potential exposure. Sixteen of them contracted the virus while unprotected, said the study, but by day six after innoculation, everyone in the second group was also fully shielded.

"Indeed, no vaccinee developed symptoms more than six days after vaccination, irrespective of whether vaccination was immediate or delayed," said the study paper.

The vaccine was safe, with no serious side-effects, according to the study.

Not known is how long the protection lasts, or the vaccine's effect on pregnant women and children -- high risk groups not included in the trial.

One of two leading vaccine candidates, VSV-ZEBOV has been developed and tested in a super-quick 12 months, compared to the normal decade or more. Ebola has no licensed cure or treatment either.

Sierra Leonean health officials check for

 the Ebola virus on passengers at a border

 crossing with Liberia in Jendema, on

March 28, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)

'Very exciting'

The Lancet said the Guinea trial would continue gathering evidence of the VS-ZEBOV's effectiveness and safety.

"The vaccine is not yet licensed. More data on efficacy are needed before it can be widely deployed," said an editorial in the medical journal.

Even then, it may be better used not to try and prevent outbreaks, but to limit virus spread once there is one, and for protecting healthcare workers -- the group at highest risk.

"The major problem is the very sporadic appearance of Ebola virus in outbreaks which are unpredictable in terms of where and when they might next appear," Andrew Easton, a virology professor at the University of Warwick, told AFP.

And the cost of mass vaccination to cover all eventualities would be prohibitive.

Disease experts welcomed the results.

"This is big news -- the most promising medical development so far in the ongoing race to shut down Ebola," Benjamin Neuman, a virologist with the University of Reading, told AFP.

Liberian doctor Francis Kateh (right) 

volunteered to receive a trial vaccine

against Ebola at Redemption Hospital on

 the outskirts of Monrovia, on February 3,

2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)

Added Peter Smith of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the results were "very exciting and suggest that the Ebola vaccine tested may be highly effective in protecting against Ebola disease among those in the immediate vicinity of an Ebola case."

The trial used a so-called "ring" approach -- the same used to eradicate smallpox in Africa in the 1970s. First to be vaccinated are people who had been in close contact with an Ebola patient, then those at a slightly more indirect risk, and so on.

"Where rings have been vaccinated... the transmission has stopped," WHO assistant director-general Marie-Paule Kieny told journalists in Geneva.

"Prior to the vaccination there were cases, cases, cases. The vaccination arrived, 10 days later no cases."

For one of the trial researchers, Matthias Egger, the trial proved not only the effectiveness of the vaccine, but also of the ring strategy.

"This could finally be the beginning of the end of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and also be useful when combating this disease in the future," he said.

Related Article:

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness

One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!

Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!

Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?

When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?

Ebola

Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.

There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.

Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”