Liberia: UN envoy urges traditional leaders to continue boosting reconstruction

The senior United Nations envoy to Liberia has urged traditional leaders from across the country to continue their support for its recovery and development efforts.

“You know your people the best and Liberians turn to you for guidance, especially during times of strife,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative, Alan Doss, told a gathering in Gbarnga of traditional leaders from all of Liberia’s 15 counties over the weekend.

Highlighting the pivotal role they play, he encouraged the traditional leaders, under the overall leadership of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s Government, to actively participate in reconstruction.

“Without reconstruction, there is no lasting peace. Without lasting peace, there is no prosperity,” he said.

Mr. Doss made his comments at the close of a three-day meeting held to elect the new leadership of the National Traditional Council of Liberia. President Johnson-Sirleaf urged those present to join her in working “to change the bad things of the past and create a new Liberia, a better Liberia for all the citizens.”

The subject of Liberia’s development challenges was one of the “Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About” released by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) on 15 May.

The workshop, organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was sponsored by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) as part of its efforts to support good governance and capacity building at community level.