West Point (Monrovia)

West Point
Coordinates	6 ° 20 ′  N , 10 ° 48 ′  W Coordinates: 6 ° 20 ′  N , 10 ° 48 ′  W
Basic data
Country	Liberia
region	Montserrado
height	7 m
Residents	75,000 (2008)
On the left the West Point peninsula in Monrovia. In the foreground the United Nations Drive , which leads with a bridge over the Mesurado River to the Clara Town district on Bushrod Island . (July 2013)

West Point is a borough and slum in the Liberian capital Monrovia . The population was around 75,000 on the key date of the last census (2008).

The place is located at the mouth of the Mesurado River in the Atlantic Ocean on an approximately one kilometer long peninsula and was created on a bar, formed from a sand dune up to seven meters high, which was initially used by the Kru as a landing pad for their fishing boats. The construction of a pier, which began in 1943, influenced the flow behavior in the bay; for about ten years now, significant changes have been perceived on the coastline that indicate a loss of land.

Since the 1970s, the rapidly increasing population of Monrovia has been confronted with a housing shortage as a process of urbanization . Poorer sections of the population were pushed within the city to West Point, the central area of ​​the capital, close to the main market and within sight of the Freeport Monrovia harbor . Bad hygienic conditions in this shantytown favor the rapid outbreak of infectious diseases. A project approved in the 1980s for the construction of sewage works , electricity, drinking water and sewer networks was not carried out due to the collapse of the country during the civil war - but there are power connections, the alleys are illuminated at night, apart from power outages. West Point was considered a safe area during the Civil War , so refugees from the hinterland flocked to the area. The district, also known as the slum, consists mainly of corrugated iron huts with narrow, sometimes only meter-wide paths between them. A single street runs through the district to the north, where there is also a public school, the MV Massaquoi School . The sandy beach between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mesurado River in the north of the peninsula has been used as a sewer - like the shore in general - since 2014 ; There is only one regular toilet in the area. When it rains , large parts of the huts are under water. Fishing in the Atlantic is still a major source of income for the residents.

In August 2014, West Point was cordoned off from a school-based isolation ward in the district due to the Ebola epidemic after several deaths and a forcible 'liberation' of 17 patients infected with the Ebola virus and quarantined on August 19 to prevent the spread of the Prevent viral disease. When the infirmary was looted, the attackers had a. She took away sheets and mattresses that were soiled with fluids from the sick. The information minister of Liberia, Lewis Brown, had feared that the epidemic would spread to other parts of the city. The lockdown led to furious protests from residents, and food prices doubled overnight in the poor district. Sections of the slum dwellers denied the deadly Ebola disease as a campaign by the government under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf , which wanted to use it to raise funds. Heavily armed soldiers and police officers were deployed in the following days and several people were injured. A barbed wire fence was erected to prevent fishing boats and others from leaving the district across the sea by the Coast Guard. Because of high food prices, distribution of rice, oil and other foodstuffs began.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Final results of the 2008 census, NPHC 2008 Report Final. (PDF; 676 kB) In: Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information-Systems (LISGIS). Retrieved October 11, 2010 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Jörn Klare, Macintosh Johnson: Ortserkundungen - West Point, Monrovia Deutschlandfunk , radio feature with texts, August 12, 2014, accessed on August 23, 2014
3. ↑ Morris T. Koffa: West Point, Liberia: An environmental menace. (No longer available online.) The liberian Dialogue, February 24, 2007, archived from the original on August 7, 2008 ; Retrieved on February 2, 2011 (English): "West Point, like many other communities in Liberia, has its share of the major environmental problems worsened by the 14 years of a senseless war. During the heap of the civil war, West Point attracted more people because of its self-proclamation as being a safe haven. Its environmental problems are mounting profoundly, including the imminent threat of water erosion. This menace gradually washes away and severely undermines West Point's foundation. This means the uninhabitable slum is at the brink of a major environmental catastrophe. " Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ ^{A b} Niles Williamson: Clashes in Monrovia, Liberia as West African Ebola epidemic grows (English) World Socialist Web Site, August 22, 2014, accessed on August 23, 2014
5. ↑ Note: The Open Street Map (OSM) can be opened with the green magnifying glass at the top right of the article. There you can zoom into West Point with “+” .
6. ↑ Ebola sufferers from isolation ward in Monrovia continued to disappear In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt , August 18, 2014, accessed on August 23, 2014.
7. ↑ Ebola in Liberia: Quarantine under armed violence In: Die Tageszeitung , August 21, 2014, accessed on August 23, 2014.