MONROVIA
U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Deborah Malac has dismissed rumors that American troops deployed in the country seek to overthrow the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
"I want to be very clear because we know there is conversation that is going on out there," Malac told a press conference in Monrovia on Monday.
"I don't want to see or hear anywhere or over any radio station or newspaper that the U.S. military is coming because the U.S. government has a secret plan to overthrow the government here in Liberia," she said.
"That is absolutely not true," insisted the American diplomat.
U.S. President Barak Obama announced earlier this month sending 3,000 military troops to Liberia to help authorities fight the Ebola outbreak.
Ebola, a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure, has killed at least 3,083 people in West Africa in recent months, including 1,830 in Liberia alone, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The tropical fever, which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It also reportedly spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have died of the disease.
Helping
Ambassador Malac said the U.S. military and other partners are in Liberia to support the government's plan to get on top of the Ebola epidemic.
She said the U.S. will remain committed to the Liberian government in these difficult times.
At the moment, a total of 175 U.S. military personnel have been deployed in Liberia.
The team, headed by Major General Darryl Williams, has been in discussion with the Liberian government and key stakeholders on how to contain the Ebola outbreak.
The team is expected to help construct 17 Ebola treatment units in Montserrado and other parts of the country.
The Americans would also train Liberian health workers to help enable the reopening of healthcare services closed since the virus outbreak.
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