Liberian women hold mass fast for peaceful elections

October 6, 2017 Cholo Brooks Other News 0

Members of the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET) sit on mattresses under a tent as they fast. Their call for peaceful elections next week is an echo of the non-violent protests by female activists that famously helped to end Liberia’s civil wars (Pholo Credit: AFP)

(AFP) – Dressed in identical printed skirts, a hundred Liberian women knelt in prayer after another long day in three weeks of fasting, appealing once more that their country be spared of violence.

Ahead of elections next Tuesday, women of all ages are gathering from dawn to sunset on a roadside close to the party headquarters of several presidential candidates.

Their daily injunction for peace echoes the female activism that helped end Liberia’s civil wars, which ran back-to-back from 1989 to 2003.

The success of their non-violent protests propelled the bloodied West African state into the world headlines and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for one of its leaders.

“We led the process in 2002 and 2003 for the Liberian women’s mass action for peace. We are still assisting in maintaining this peace that we have,” Delphine Morris, national coordinator for the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), said on Wednesday.

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Source: Mail Online /AFP

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About Cholo Brooks 15377 Articles

Joel Cholo Brooks is a Liberian journalist who previously worked for several international news outlets including the BBC African Service. He is the CEO of the Global News Network which publishes two local weeklies, The Star and The GNN-Liberia Newspapers. He is a member of the Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) since 1986, and several other international organizations of journalists, and is currently contributing to the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation as Liberia Correspondent.