January 5, 2017
BBC News Africa

[image: Inline image 1]AFP


Half of Liberians fear the country could return to its violent past
according to a poll, the Reuters news agency reports.

Liberians blame systemic corruption in the public sector, disputes over
land ownership and high rates of youth unemployment as the main causes that
could lead to war in the western African nation.

The poll was conducted by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

"Liberians are telling the world that the causes of the long civil wars are
still there and they have genuine fears of their country returning to
violence," Jennifer Overton from the organisation said.

The country is still recovering from two brutal civil wars that spanned 14
years before ending in 2003 and an Ebola outbreak which killed some 4,800
people between 2014 and 2016, the report says.

Liberians go to the polls in October to elect a new president to replace
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female head of state, in what
would be the first democratic transfer of power since the 1970s.

More than 80% of respondents said they felt that victims of wartime
violence were not getting justice through the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, which was set up in 2005 to investigate war crimes and crimes
against humanity, the report added.








-- 
Ann Marie

"The art of living consists of knowing what to pay attention to and what to
ignore."  -- Mardy Grothe

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