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Liberia

Liberia faces new violence as Weah declares himself president

Monrovia (dpa) - Liberia was on the brink of new civil strife Monday following security reports that the Congress of Democratic Change CDC of defeated presidential candidate George Manneh Weah was ready to launch a new civil war.

Weah, a former soccer star, has refused to accept defeat in the country's November run-off presidential elections, and Sunday told the independent Star radio at the Congo Town CDC headquarters: ''I am the elected president of Liberia.''

Latest security reports said the CDC was set to launch another rebel war in Liberia. It had - together with the defunct MODEL rebel movement - hired Liberian mercenaries fighting alongside rebels in the Ivory Coast, the reports said.

The mercenaries were expected to start the rebel war in southeastern Grand Gedeh County, which borders Ivory Coast. In the county, Weah polled 99.2 per cent of votes cast in the November run-off election.

Meanwhile, Information Minister William Allen disclosed that two cabinet ministers in the transitional government have been linked to the planned rebel attack, but stopped short of naming them.

Following Weah's declaration Sunday, hundreds of his partisans night went on the rampage in Monrovia's eastern suburbs Sinkor and Congo Town, smashing car windshields, including those of vehicles belonging to the United Nations peace keeping force (UNMIL).

Several people were injured during the unrest, including seven police officers, one of whom was in a coma as a result of the attack, police inspector-general General Joseph Kerkula told journalists in Monrovia Monday.

Weah had been defeated by Harvard-trained economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is set to be inaugurated in January as Africa's first female president and Liberia's first elected president following 14 years of civil war in the country.

The polls were considered fair by observers, but the election commission accused Weah of trying to undermine the electoral process.

However, Weah insisted that the elelctions had been rigged, and said: ''There will be no inauguration as long as the CDC fraud case is not resolved. We have to sit on the table and discuss the cheating that went on during the election.'' dpa tas emc ds

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