The Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) received orders to shoot anyone who crosses the border from Sierra Leone at night. Liberia closed the borders against the spread of Ebola but also because a medical ward was looted Saturday night. Patients who fled the looters and went missing returned to the hospital on Tuesday.
“I want to hear that someone gets a bullet in their leg,” said Colonel Eric. W. Dennis. “First, you need to send a warning shot, and then after you burst their legs, the affected person/s [sic] will realize that he has violated a standing order or a law of another country.”
From The Daily Observer:
The soldiers are under orders to shoot on sight those who violate President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s mandate ordering all borders closed in the wake of the spread of the Ebola virus across the country.
Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) reports confirmed to commanders that illegal entries around Bo Water are now being used under the cover of darkness by some individuals crossing over into Liberia and verse versa [sic] during night hours.
Bo-Waterside Immigration Commander, Col. Samuel Mulbah, informed the AFL DCOS that despite the closure of the borders, some ‘unscrupulous’ individuals, mainly Sierra Leoneans, were using makeshift canoes at night to cross people into the country as well as take people from Liberia to that neighboring West African state.
Mulbah said these people use 35 illegal entry points into Liberia. The Sierra Leoneans could endanger Liberians since their health status is unknown. Ebola started in Guinea, but Liberia has the “highest number of deaths and Sierra Leone the highest number of cases.” Almost 1,200 people are dead and 2,200 infected. Unfortunately, due to fears and mistrust of medical workers, both tolls could be a lot higher.
The borders were closed a few weeks ago, but Liberia decided to crack down on the enforcement after people looted an Ebola ward Saturday night. On Tuesday, Information Minister Lewis Brown said at least seventeen of the quarantined patients who fled the looters are back at the hospital. Youths shouted “there’s no Ebola” as they attacked the ward in the West Point slum in Monrovia. They stole “mattresses and bedding that were soaked with fluids from the patients.” Brown said the youths could become carriers of Ebola and spread the disease.
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