By Amin Kef Sesay
The United States Ambassador, Maria Brewer, on June 17, 2020, met with the Sierra Leone Deputy Minister of Defense, Colonel (Retired) Muana Brima Massaquoi and other senior-level officers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) to deliver 30,000 locally procured cloth face covers.
With funding from U.S. Africa Command, the U.S. Department of Defense locally procured more than 75,000 meters of fabric for the RSLAF Tailors to produce 30,000 face covers. This delivery ensures that over 8,000 RSLAF soldiers and Ministry of Defense (MoD) civilians will each be issued three covers for use in combating the deadly COVID-19 global pandemic.
In addition to the RSLAF and MoD, every member of the 144 joint border patrols will each be issued three face covers to aid in their deployment to the border regions. The remaining covers were provided to the Emergency Operation Center to distribute, as necessary.
As part of an effort to boost the local economy, the United States Department of Defense teamed up with the RSLAF’s Tailoring Division to provide these face covers utilizing local materials. In her remarks, Ambassador Brewer stated, “I hope we can continue to find projects to provide assistance while helping the local economy as much as possible.” The United States Embassy is proud to work together with the Government of Sierra Leone in the fight against the COVID-19 global pandemic and to provide aid to local commerce in a time of need.
