Liberia urged to keep poll row peaceful

MONROVIA – African leaders appealed to the people of Liberia to stay peaceful and shun violence in a dispute over a presidential run-off in which Harvard-trained economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf finished first.

The 67-year-old former finance minister is poised to become Africa’s first elected female head of state after official voting returns showed her obtaining an unbeatable lead over millionaire soccer star George Weah in Tuesday’s poll. But former AC Milan striker Weah, 39, whose supporters stoned police in Monrovia on Friday and staged a smaller protest on Saturday, is calling for a rerun.He says the run-off vote was riddled with fraud.African heads of state meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, praised what they called Tuesday’s “peaceful, transparent, free and fair” presidential elections in Liberia, the first since the end of a brutal civil war that devastated the West African state.”They called upon all Liberians to jealously guard the prevailing peace and to desist from any acts that are likely to return their country to crisis,” said the statement.It was made by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, Ghanaian President John Kufuor and other African leaders.Earlier in Monrovia, Protestant and Catholic pastors and priests also urged Liberians to avoid the kind of political violence that turned into an orgy of killing during the civil war that ended two years ago.”Liberia is at a critical stage.We call on all voters, in the name of peace, to allow peace to prevail,” Pentecostalist Bishop Isaac Winker told worshippers at his Monrovia church.Weah’s party has filed official complaints of fraud to the Supreme Court and to electoral authorities, which say they are investigating.The African heads of state “urged all Liberians …to use constitutional and legal means to redress any grievances arising from the elections”.Blue-bereted UN troops with armoured vehicles guarded the National Elections Commission (NEC) headquarters where Weah supporters clashed with police on Friday.But the streets of Monrovia were quiet on Sunday and churchgoers, including Johnson-Sirleaf, went to mass.”I pray for our country Liberia,” she told reporters.- Nampa-ReutersBut former AC Milan striker Weah, 39, whose supporters stoned police in Monrovia on Friday and staged a smaller protest on Saturday, is calling for a rerun.He says the run-off vote was riddled with fraud.African heads of state meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, praised what they called Tuesday’s “peaceful, transparent, free and fair” presidential elections in Liberia, the first since the end of a brutal civil war that devastated the West African state.”They called upon all Liberians to jealously guard the prevailing peace and to desist from any acts that are likely to return their country to crisis,” said the statement.It was made by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, Ghanaian President John Kufuor and other African leaders.Earlier in Monrovia, Protestant and Catholic pastors and priests also urged Liberians to avoid the kind of political violence that turned into an orgy of killing during the civil war that ended two years ago.”Liberia is at a critical stage.We call on all voters, in the name of peace, to allow peace to prevail,” Pentecostalist Bishop Isaac Winker told worshippers at his Monrovia church.Weah’s party has filed official complaints of fraud to the Supreme Court and to electoral authorities, which say they are investigating.The African heads of state “urged all Liberians …to use constitutional and legal means to redress any grievances arising from the elections”.Blue-bereted UN troops with armoured vehicles guarded the National Elections Commission (NEC) headquarters where Weah supporters clashed with police on Friday.But the streets of Monrovia were quiet on Sunday and churchgoers, including Johnson-Sirleaf, went to mass.”I pray for our country Liberia,” she told reporters.- Nampa-Reuters