Hopes of a nation pinned on polls

MONROVIA - Liberians vote today in the first elections since the end of a civil war in polls that many see as a historic opportunity to free the country from recurring violence and instability.

Millionaire soccer star George Weah, former warlords, wealthy lawyers and a Harvard-educated economist who could become Africa's first elected female head of state are all running for the presidency of the West African country.

Among Monrovia's derelict towers and mud-soaked shanty towns, polling booths have been set up in churches and schools.

In the dense jungle upcountry, huts and tents house the ballot boxes, some of them a walk of four days from the nearest road.

"To have a polling station here tells us the democracy the Liberian people have so longed for is finally a reality," said Thomas Paye, pastor of Monrovia's St Peter's Church, where 600 people were massacred during the civil war that ended in 2003. Under the concrete courtyard in front of the building the victims' bodies lie in two mass graves. Bullet holes still pepper the stained-glass windows.

"As I cast my vote I will have mixed feelings," Paye said. "Joy that I am participating in choosing a new leader but sadness that I am voting on ground where hundreds of people are buried who wanted just to be free."

Former AC Milan striker Weah and ex-World Bank economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf are seen as the frontrunners in the 22-strong presidential field. The party of former President and warlord Charles Taylor, wanted for war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone, has fielded a candidate while ex-rebel leader Sekou Conneh, whose forces fought Taylor, is also standing.
Key to the new president's ability to govern will be the balance of power in the 30-seat Senate and 64-seat House of Representatives, whose members are also being elected.

Africa's oldest independent republic, founded by freed slaves from America in 1847, was torn apart by 14 years of on-off fighting during a war in which child soldiers high on drugs wielded grenade launchers and Kalash-nikovs.

A quarter of a million people were killed and almost a third of the population were forced to flee their homes. The war left the country's infrastructure in ruins and destabilised neighbouring countries in West Africa. The capital is still without piped water or mains electricity.

African diplomats say it is vital for the continent's democratic credibility that Liberia's vote go smoothly.

"It will send a very strong signal to the African people that Africa can conduct its affairs in a very democratic manner," said Irfan Rahman, head of a team of election observers sent by the 53-nation African Union.

More than 400 international observers are monitoring the polls, including former United States President Jimmy Carter.

- REUTERS