International

The United States Embassy near Monrovia said the 2010 the Diversity Visa (DV) will begin October 1st and end November 3rd 2010.

The vice consul, Mark Naylor, made the disclosure on August 19, 2010 during a town hall meeting at the American Library in Mamba Point, deplomative enclave in Monrovia.

Naylor said that in order to be eligible applicants of this year D.V, the person should be at least a high school graduate or have a vocational career.

“Absolutely no one who is not a high school graduate and do not posses the West African Examinations Council certificate (WAEC) will be awarded a visa, even if the applicant has gone through the proper roles of the Diversity Visa process”, he noted.

He also stated that to be qualified for a non immigrant Visa, the applicant must be petitioned by his or her relatives residing in the US. When questioned on why applicants are asked to tell why he or she wants to travel to the United States, Naylor stated that all applicants should be able to convince the Visa consular why they want to travel to the US.

Mark also noted that many at times people are petitioned to travel to the USA for schooling and they don't attend school and worst of all refused to come back home.

He used the occasion to caution this year's applicants to be very careful with whatever information that will be providing during application.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been named by NEWSWEEK, one of America's leading newsweeklies, as one of the 10 best leaders of the world.

A story by Jason McLure, a NEWSWEEK correspondent, had this to say about the Liberian leader:
When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected Liberia's president and Africa's only female head of state in 2005, she inherited a country decimated by years of violence. Between 1989 and 2003, two horrific civil wars had killed as many as 250,000 of Liberia's 3 million people, and displaced thousands more; more than 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers were deployed on the ground to maintain a fragile peace.

At the time of her election, Sirleaf who held positions at the World Bank and the U.N. before her political run--told NEWSWEEK, "I'm most concerned with being a mother to Liberia. I want to heal the deep wounds of this nation."

“Now, five years later, fewer than than 8,000 U.N. troops remain in Liberia. The country has boosted school enrollment by 40 percent, restored power and running water to urban centers, and turned its timber and diamond industries into thriving and legitimate trades.

“Sirleaf has also slashed Liberia's external debt from $4.9 billion in 2006 to $1.7 billion today. Under her leadership, Liberia is a country rebuilt and reborn.”