UN forces use tear gas after Liberian rioters stone police in election protest

LIBERIA: UN forces fired tear gas at angry supporters of Liberian soccer star George Weah yesterday after they stoned police and marched to the US embassy to back a demand to halt counting in an election Mr Weah says was rigged.

The election, deemed fair by international observers, is set to elect Africa's first woman president, a former World Bank official, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Police from the 15,000-strong UN peacekeeping force, which includes Irish troops, used gas and batons to disperse hundreds of Weah supporters after they broke through a line of Liberian riot police trying to hold them back from the US embassy building. It is understood no Irish troops were involved in the action.

Weah supporters chanted "No Weah, no peace" and "No Weah, no president", hurling stones at riot police in front of the National Elections Commission (NEC) as UN helicopters hovered overhead.

With 97 per cent of polling stations' votes counted from Tuesday's runoff ballot, Harvard-trained Ms Johnson Sirleaf has an unassailable 59.4 per cent. But Weah and his Congress for Democratic Change party insist the election was rigged.

Ms Johnson Sirleaf told reporters in Monrovia yesterday she thought the voting trend was "irreversible" at this late stage of the process. But any announcement of outright victory by her will have to wait because Mr Weah has made an official complaint of election irregularities, involving ballot tampering and ballot-box stuffing.

The NEC has pledged to look into the matter and has urged all Liberians to remain calm while it carries out the investigation.

"I hope that . . . Mr Weah will see reason, will accept the result, which I believe reflects the choice of the Liberian people," Ms Johnson Sirleaf told reporters. The outcome of the election is a surprise result as Mr Weah, who won 29 per cent of the vote from the first round of the presidential election, was the overall leader from the 22 candidates who contested the October 11th poll.

Ms Johnson Sirleaf came second in that poll with nearly 20 per cent of the vote.

Max van den Berg, head of the European Union Observation Mission, has encouraged Mr Weah and his Congress for Democratic Change party to protest to the specific precincts where they say they have detected frauds.

"Let's play the game on the field, for there is where we score goals," urged Mr Van Dan Berg, who maintained the party and its leaders should not discredit the entire process with their allegations of fraud.

Despite Mr Weah's apparent defeat, Ms Johnson Sirleaf has indicated there would be a place for him in any government she would form.

"If I were to win the presidential election then the government would avail of all available personnel and resources in order to tackle the mammoth task ahead of rebuilding Liberia, and this includes George Weah," Ms Johnson Sirleaf told The Irish Times following the first round of the election.