Liberia has ‘turned the corner’ towards lasting peace says President Sirleaf....

President Sirleaf addressing the U.N General Assembly.

Ten years after the end of Liberia’s brutal civil war, the country has made tremendous progress on the path to lasting peace and stability, President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, told the United Nations General Assembly today, while adding that serious challenges remain.
“As Liberia moves toward its tenth year of sustained peace, we can state with conviction that our country has turned the corner,” President Sirleaf said in her address to the Assembly’s high-level General Debate, which began at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
“Liberia is no longer a place of conflict, war and deprivation. We are no longer the country our citizens fled, our international partners pitied and our neighbors feared,” she added. President Sirleaf thanked the UN for being “a very committed and effective partner” with Liberia as it emerged from conflict and embarked on the path to peace, security and development. “We owe the Organization much gratitude for preserving an enabling environment for peacebuilding and state-building.”

 

The UN has maintained a peacekeeping force in Liberia since 2003 to bolster a ceasefire agreement ending a decade of war that killed nearly 150,000 people, mostly civilians. The mandate of the UN Mission in Liberia  includes helping to restore the rule of law and democratic processes, as well as facilitating humanitarian assistance.

President Sirleaf must take the incident in the Ivory Coast seriously.......

Over the weekend we learned of the deadly attack that took the lives of several United Nations peacekeepers and Ivorian Military personal in the Ivory Coast. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms," saying he was "saddened and outraged" about the deaths of the peacekeepers, all from Niger. He urged the government of Ivory Coast to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Meanwhile hundreds of villagers were fleeing the area near the Liberian border, and U.N. officials said others may have been killed or injured. Authorities have been unable to confirm any additional casualties because of the remoteness of the area near the Liberian border.

This is a serious situation along the border of the two countries, and the governments of the two countries especially Liberia, must do everything to bring the situation under control. We the many concern Liberians at home and abroad urged President sirleaf to not take this lightly, as it has the potential to not only destabilize the entire region, but to drag Liberia back into instability.

 Some Liberian government minsters were denying Liberia's involvement in the incident. But whether they came out of Liberia, or whether they are based in the Ivory Coast, doesn’t matter.  What matters is that there was an incident in Ivory Coast close to our own border that concerns everybody. If our neighbor's house is on fire we should make it our duty to help put out the fire who knows ours could be next. Both countries need to concertedly work together to more effectively weed out this cancer from their common borders, and once and for all send out a message that the days of savages and barbarians using our country to attack another is over. Finally if any Liberians are found to be involved in the incident over the weekend, if caught they should be put to death immediately, we do not want these barbaric people in our Country, enough is enough.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf sworn in for a second term .

President Sirleaf and vice President Boakai at the inauguration ceremony.

Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in Monday for a second term in a ceremony attended by several world leaders, and the U.S secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"We inaugurate a new beginning -- a rebirth of our democracy," Sirleaf told the crowd of thousands, as supporters blew horns. "Today we can say with conviction that our country has turned the corner. Liberia is no longer a place of conflict, war and deprivation. We are no longer the country our citizens want to run away from."

In her inaugural address, Sirleaf directly addressed those who felt she has not done enough to lift them from poverty.

"To all who have yet to feel the hands of progress touch your life, your time has come," she said, as cheers erupted. "We have laid the foundations for peace and prosperity, and must now hasten our true mission: Putting people -- especially young people -- first. And lifting the lives of all Liberians."

And she responded to the opposition's claim that she was not listening to the country's disenfranchised youth: "The youth of Liberia are our future and they have sent us a message," she said. "Let me say to them: We heard that message. It is our solemn obligation to ensure that their hope will not be in vain."

Hillary Clinton (left) meets Liberian Foreign Minister Toga Gayewea McIntosh on arrival in Monrovia.

Thousands of people, many of them dressed in colorful ceremonial gown, gathered hours before the start of the ceremony in the capital Monrovia. The military fired two cannons Monday and hoisted the flag at the presidency.

Liberia is recovering from 14 years of civil war and conflict that ended in 2003. Sirleaf became Africa's first democratically-elected female president in 2005, and last year was one of three women awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The inauguration ceremony closed with a parade by security forces through the streets of Monrovia and floats representing Liberia's 15 counties.