Liberia's first elected woman president faces daunting task
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-14 08:52

Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf takes office as Africa's first elected female president on Monday, and takes up the challenge of rebuilding a war-scarred nation where a stunning 80 percent of the working population is jobless will be no easy task.

On-and-off civil wars from 1989 to 2003 left 200,000 people dead and displaced more than half of the tiny nation's 3 million people. Now in a devastated country with no electricity and no running water, not even the toilets are working in the in the Executive Mansion, where water is carried in in buckets.

"We have so many problems. Too many to count," said 33-year-old mother of three, Serena Marley, who ekes out a living as a market seller.

To rebuild Liberia and secure a desperately needed influx of foreign aid, Sirleaf must win over international donors by proving the country is in good hands _ well-governed, free of corruption and violence.

Doug Coffman, a U.N. spokesman in Liberia, said the country needs substantial and continued aid. Rebuilding and retraining the army and police force alone will take tens of millions of dollars (euros), he said.

With 15,000 peacekeepers and a solid two years of peace under Liberia's belt, the threat of renewed war is considered remote, for now.

Sirleaf says she will reach out to former rebel leaders and personally invite them to find ways to contribute to Liberia's growth. Most faction leaders supported Sirleaf's political rival, soccer star George Weah, who lost a heated November presidential runoff.

Her House and Senate _ modeled after their counterparts in the United States, with whom Liberia has a long a close history _ include former warlords as legislators.
Sirleaf must ensure the integration of 100,000 ex-combatants. That means keeping money flowing to U.N.-backed reintegration programs that have put them in school and given them job training.

Many ex-combatants are convinced Sirleaf stole the election from Weah, though international observers declared the vote free and fair.

Sirleaf, a 67-year-old Harvard-educated former finance minister, has promised to electrify the city within six months with private investment she claims to have already lined up.

"She's promised to bring safe drinking water and electricity and she has the international contacts to make that happen," 41-year-old former fighter James Cooper said.

Liberia, founded by freed American slaves in 1847, has been wracked by coups and war since 1980. Two of the last four heads of state have been executed, a third fled to Nigeria, and the fourth could face criminal charges for corruption.

Liberia's economy is minuscule. The national budget is just US$80 million, with donors injecting about US$300 million annually, mostly through aid projects.

The tumbledown capital is in bad shape, slipping into darkness nightly because the city has no mains power. Severed power lines dangle to the road, meeting open sewers that often spill onto the sidewalk. Buildings are bullet-splattered and blackened by fire and mold.

The situation is so bad that toilets in the Executive Mansion don't function because of shortages of water, most of which is carried in by buckets, said Edith Bawn of Living Water International, an aid group in charge of a US$150,000 USAID grant to clean up government grounds.

Sirleaf's officials said they didn't know whether she'll move into the mansion Monday, though she will start using it as an office.

In an attempt prepare the city for inauguration guests _ prominent among them U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. First Lady Laura Bush _ the government has dispatched bands of youth to collect rubble and rubbish from potholed streets, hauling away rusted taxis, sweeping curbs and laying on fresh coats of paint.

Around the legislature, several hundred ex-combatants are clearing trees and erecting inaugural stands beneath an unforgiving sun _ all for two dollars (euros) a day and a free lunch.

For most, it was the first paid job in months.