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MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberians gathered in the streets of the capital on Monday to celebrate the end of the Ebola epidemic in this West African country.
The festivities come after the World Health Organization declared over the weekend that Liberia was finally Ebola-free.
More than 4,700 people died during the Ebola crisis in Liberia, the country hardest hit by the outbreak. Ebola continues to claim victims in Sierra Leone and Guinea, where health officials have had difficulty tracing new cases.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf closed the celebrations by recommitting herself to helping the governments and people of Sierra Leone and Guinea to overcome the disease.
The effort to achieve that has already started. "We are going to intensify that effort because we know that until they are free, totally free, we are not free," she said.
The president of Togo along with guests from the African Union, Ghana and Nigeria also attended the Liberian event.
Liberia's Chief Justice Francis Korkpor called the Ebola crisis "an unprovoked attack on our nation that posed a serious threat to the survival of our existence."
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