Liberia: In the shadows of civil war?
As Liberians prepare to go to the polls, we ask if the country has fully emerged from the shadows of violence.
Liberia is due to hold presidential and legislative elections on Tuesday, October 11.
Just days before the poll, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the incumbent president, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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“Maybe people forget how difficult it is to take over after such a brutal war where the minds are not at peace, the economy is totally broken, there is no institutions and war is always threatening to come back.” Marie-Roger Biloa |
Her opponents say it gives her an unfair advantage, but the vote is by no means guaranteed.
Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters have taken to the streets of the capital, Monrovia, in the last week of campaigning, cheering for the Congress for Democratic Change, the main opposition party.
But has Liberia really emerged from the shadows of civil war or will it slide back into violence? And will the Nobel Peace Prize award impact the vote?
Inside Story, with presenter Shakuntala Santhiran, discusses with Ayo Johnson, a political analyst; Marie-Roger Biloa, the editor of Africa International, a pan-African news magazine; and Miatta Fabnubulleh, an accomplished singer and renowned women’s rights activist in Liberia.
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“The timing of the [Nobel Peace Prize] award has got to be questioned. I think the international community … has literally endorsed her as the person that they would like to win the elections. But thankfully the decision is not to be made by the international community, it’s being made by fellow Liberians.” Ayo Johnson |