Former international football star George Weah was sworn in as
Liberia’s new president on Monday, in the country’s first transition between
democratically-elected leaders since 1944.
Weah,
51, took over from Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who spent 12 years at
the helm, steering the West African nation away from the trauma of a civil war.
He
was sworn in as president by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Francis
Korkpor.
The
ceremony took place at a packed sports stadium near the capital, Monrovia, with
several African heads of state in attendance, along with friends and former
colleagues from Weah’s football years.
Crowds
queued for kilometres (miles) to reach the stadium, singing, dancing and waving
the Liberian flag as they waited.
Weah
has vowed to make prosperity and job creation the hallmarks of his presidency.
Liberia
is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking a mere 177th on the 188
countries in the Human Development Index compiled by the UN Development
Programme.
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