Sierra Leone: ECOWAS donates $400,000 to mudslide victims

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has donated $400,000 to Sierra Leone’s victims of victims of floods and mudslides.   A torrential rainfall and mudslides occurred on Monday 14 August 2017 in and around the Sierra Leonean capital, leaving more than 300 dead, including children. They were given a mass burial on the […]

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has donated $400,000 to Sierra Leone’s victims of victims of floods and mudslides.

 

A torrential rainfall and mudslides occurred on Monday 14 August 2017 in and around the Sierra Leonean capital, leaving more than 300 dead, including children. They were given a mass burial on the outskirts of the capital Freetown.

 

Some 600 people are still thought to be missing while more than 400 people are known to have died. About 3,000 people are homeless and several houses and properties damaged by the disaster.

 

Togo’s president and Chairperson of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, gave the donation when he paid a solidarity visit to Freetown, Sierra Leonean capital.

 

He was accompanied by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza.

 

“Mr Gnassingbe presented his Sierra Leonean counterpart, Ernest Bai Koroma, a cheque of 200,000 dollars from the ECOWAS Commission, another cheque of 100,000 dollars from the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) and fund transfer of 100,000 dollars from the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID),” said a statement from the ECOWAS commission.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Gnassingbe donated another 500,000 US dollars on behalf of the people and government of Togo.

 

The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza, expressed the deepest sympathy of the regional organisation to the bereaved families, the government and people of Sierra Leone.