Sirleaf becomes new Liberian president today - Pledges to unite country

January 16, 2005 – (Nigerian Tribune) Liberia's president-elect, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, pledged on Sunday to unite her war-battered country when she takes office today and earns the trust of international donors whose aid is crucial to rebuilding it.

Liberia knew little but violence from 1989 to 2003, when a peace accord sent then President Charles Taylor into exile and ushered in a transitional government backed by 15,000 United Nations peacekeepers.

"Our challenge in our country is first and foremost the challenge of peace and security," Johnson-Sirleaf said in an address delivered at a forum of West African women held in the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated economist and former World Bank official, would become the first democratically elected female president in all of Africa when she takes office today as leader of the continent's oldest republic, founded by freed American slaves in 1847.

The inauguration would be attended by United States first lady, Laura Bush, and U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Johnson-Sirleaf defeated the soccer star, George Weah, in a November run-off in an election deemed fair by international observers. Backed by most of Liberia's former warlords, Weah contested the ballot but conceded defeat in December.

One of Johnson-Sirleaf's biggest challenges would be ensuring 100,000 ex-combatants who have laid down arms under a UnitedNations-backed disarmament campaign are re-integrated into civil society.

Many of them are jobless and the wounds are still raw from a conflict that claimed 200,000 lives and displaced half the population. "This government represents all Liberians no matter who you are, what your name, what your tribe, what your religion, what your county or your background," she said.

With massive unemployment and the country's infrastructure in tatters, Liberia will need the help of international benefactors to rebuild the economy and provide basic services such as water and electricity, lacking even in the capital.

From: http://www.tribune.com.ng/160106/news07.htm