WASHINGTON, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush told Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Thursday that he would push the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on debt relief for her country.

Bush, hosting Johnson-Sirleaf in the Oval Office, also announced the return of US Peace Corps volunteers to Liberia, which it left in 1990 after a 27-year presence, according to a spokeswoman.

OSLO, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was to push for a new, more upbeat international approach to Africa at a conference in Oslo Monday aimed at emphasising positive developments on the continent.

'African countries are adopting sound economic policies which have produced acceptable economic performance that has brought much hope for which Africa and its people should be proud,' Sirleaf said in a statement.

MONROVIA, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Liberia four million euros (5.7 million dollars) to rebuild the country ravaged by civil war as she wrapped up her first sub-Saharan Africa trip on Sunday.

'We absolutely want to do it, to help Liberia back onto its feet,' Merkel said after holding talks with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the capital Monrovia.

This new pledge was in addition to the 14.4 million euros in aid Berlin had already given to the west African country.

MONROVIA, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel was welcomed by Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as she arrived here Sunday for a quick visit at the end of her first trip to sub-Saharan Africa.

The ceremony was attended by government members and traditional chiefs, who brought the German leader a white cockerel, a sign of friendship in Liberia.

Afterwards, Merkel and Sirleaf -- Africa's only female president -- were due to hold talks in the presidential palace in Monrovia.

BERLIN, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel embarks on Wednesday on her first tour of sub-Saharan Africa on a three-nation visit that will focus on human rights, AIDS, economic cooperation and the political crisis in Zimbabwe.

Merkel's first stop will be Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and seat of the fledgling African Union which is struggling, so far without success, to halt four years of bloodshed in neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region.

BERLIN, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Ethiopia, South Africa and Liberia early next month on her first tour of Africa, government spokesman Thomas Steg said.

She will go to Ethiopia on October 3 and then fly to South Africa the next day for a four-day visit, before travelling to Liberia for one day.

'The chancellor will hold political discussions but will also visit a number of aid projects,' Steg said.

MONROVIA, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - A Liberian court on Wednesday sentenced a 58-year-old man to life for repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl over two months.

Indicted a year ago, Allen Rogers was found guilty of raping the girl in Barnesville, a working-class suburb on the outskirts of the steamy oceanside capital Monrovia.

Rogers kidnapped his victim and her 13-year-old brother and kept them under lock-and-key until the brother escaped and alerted the police.

'Every day he used to rape my sister,' said the tearful boy pointing at Rogers in the courtroom.

MONROVIA, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will push for the seizure of the assets of ex-president Charles Taylor, on trial for war crimes, her spokesman said Tuesday.

Parliament last week rejected a bill aimed at seizing the assets of Taylor and his aides, arguing it was unconstitutional.

'No matter how the situation will be, the president will still find other means in her reach to seize the assets of those individuals,' Sirleaf's spokesman Cyrus Badio told AFP.

MONROVIA, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Liberian lawmakers have shot down a bill to allow the seizure of the assets of former president Charles Taylor -- standing trial for war crimes -- and his aides, a parliamentary official said Sunday.

Isaac Red, spokesman of the House of Representatives said the proposed bill was unconstitutional.

'The parliament had so many problems with that bill,' Red said.

'During a plenary session on Friday, the House of Representatives decided to reject the bill,' he said.

OUAGADOUGOU, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Sierra Leone's new President Ernest Bai Koroma on Friday embarked on a three-nation tour aimed at boosting ties in the region on his first official trip abroad since taking office.

His talks with the leaders of Guinea, Liberia and Burkina Faso Faso centred on peace, regional security and cooperation.

On the last leg of his tour in Burkina Faso Faso he held talks with President Blaise Compaore, who holds the rotating presidency of regional bloc ECOWAS.

MONROVIA, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Sierra Leone's new President Ernest Bai Koroma on Friday set off on his first official trip abroad since taking office to visit three neighbouring states in a bid to boost ties.

Talks with leaders of Guinea, Liberia and Burkina Faso Faso are centred on regional security and bilateral cooperation, officials said.

Koroma, at the head of a 17-member delegation of mainly his senior party officials, landed at Liberia's Roberts International Airport aboard a United Nations plane from nearby Guinea.

MONROVIA, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Fourteen Liberian demobilised soldiers who staged violent protests demanding pension payouts early this week were on Wednesday arraigned before a court facing riot and assault charges.

The demonstrators had on Monday night mounted barricades along the streets using rocks and logs or lighting fires in the middle of streets, disrupting the flow of traffic.

Prosecutors also accused them of beating up Liberian policemen who tried to put down the demos.

MONROVIA, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - The world's eight most industrialised countries are giving war-ravaged Liberia more than 300 million dollars to help clear its external debt arrears, the government said on Wednesday.

'G8 countries have announced a contribution of 324.5 million dollars (232 million euros) in Special Drawing Rights (SDR),' said a statement.

'The amount will go towards financing the cost of clearing Liberia's arrears at the International Monetary Fund (IMF),' it added.

The contribution amounts to 60 percent of the total debt Liberia owes the IMF.

MONROVIA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Heavily armed UN military peacekeepers patrolled the streets of the Liberian capital on Tuesday alongside local and UN police after demobilised soldiers staged violent protests overnight.

Witnesses said hundreds of former Liberian army soldiers, police, special security forces and immigration officers took to the streets overnight demanding payout of their benefits.

The angry demonstrators mounted barricades along the streets using rocks and logs or lighting fires in the middle of streets, disrupting the flow of traffic.

MONROVIA, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Liberia's newly appointed Justice Minister Philip Banks on Thursday declared war against a soaring crime wave in the west African country battling to recover from decades of conflict and lawlessness.

'I have a message for all the criminals. Let them get ready for war. I am going to make sure that the police is well armed, and we will go after the criminals,' he said.

Liberia's revamped police force started getting armed last December after the UN lifted an arms embargo imposed in 2003.

MIAMI, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - The son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor on Monday pleaded not guilty before a US court in Miami to charges that he was involved in summary executions and brutal torture in the west African nation.

Charles McArthur Emmanuel, a US citizen also known as 'Chuckie Taylor,' was head of Liberia's anti-terrorist services during his father's rule in Liberia.

MONROVIA, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Liberia has exported its first batch of diamonds since the lifting of a UN embargo imposed to stop the gems being used to finance the country's civil war, the government said Monday.

Diamonds worth 200 million dollars (145 million euros) were sent abroad in recent days, Information Minister Laurence Bropleh told a media conference.

He did not give a precise date, nor the destination country.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - The head of the UN mission in Liberia on Friday cited 'considerable progress' in the West African country as he outlined a three-year drawdown of the UN contingent there from next month.

The visiting head of the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Alan Doss, gave details of his briefing to the Security Council Thursday on plans to cut the current 14,000 UN troops to 9,000 and the police presence from almost 1,200 to less than 750.

MONROVIA, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - The head of the UN mission in Liberia on Friday cited 'considerable progress' in the west African country as he outlined a planned three-year drawdown of the UN contingent there from next month.

The visiting head of the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Alan Doss, gave details of his briefing to the Security Council Thursday on plans to cut the current 14,000-strong UN troop contingent to 9,000 and the police presence from almost 1,200 to less than 750.

MONROVIA, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - A key witness in the trial of two alleged coup plotters in Liberia on Monday accused the authorities of having used torture to force him to testify against the defendants.

Colonel Andrew Dorbor, who was meant to be one of the prosecution's star witnesses, said Liberian agents in Ivory Coast first tortured him and then promised him a good life outside Liberia to get him to lie in court.

MONROVIA, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - The UN special representative to Liberia called Monday for specialised police units to deal with sexual violence against women, a problem that remains widespread in the civil war-ravaged country.

Alan Doss was addressing the opening of Liberia's general assembly of church councils in the capital Monrovia, where Vice-President Joseph Boaki also called for action against the problem.

'The first line of defence in the fight against gender-based violence is peace because women and girls are usually the first victims of war,' Doss said.

MONROVIA, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - Liberia sent a delegation to neighbouring Guinea on Monday, two days after a killing apparently by bandits, to discuss a surge in border crime in recent months, a government source in Monrovia said.

'The situation is becoming worrisome. This is the sixth time now that armed men believed to be robbers have crossed the borders from Guinea to come to Liberia,' said the source, who asked not to be named.

MONROVIA, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has travelled to Italy for an official visit and talks on cooperation regarding her west African country, her office announced Thursday.

'The president left last night (Wednesday) for Italy where she will hold talks with authorities of that country on bilateral cooperation,' the statement said, without specifying how long the trip would be.

In her absence, Commerce Minister Frances Johnson Morris and Vice President Joseph Boakai will handle daily governance in Liberia.

MONROVIA, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) - Liberia's Supreme Court Friday gave its go-ahead for the trial of the west African country's post-war transitional government president Gyude Bryant for corruption.

Supreme Court judge Kabineh Janneh, a former rebel leader who served as justice minister in Bryant's government after the end of nearly 14 years of back-to-back civil wars, read out the ruling in the capital Monrovia.

'Under normal circumstances, it would be unthinkable for the legislature to pass a resolution that contradicts the constitution,' he said.

MONROVIA, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has named a new foreign minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle, her second since taking office in January last year, her office said on Thursday.

The new foreign minister is Olubanka King Akerele, a former minister of commerce and United Nations diplomat with 20 years' experience, a statement said.

The country's Justice Minister Frances Johnson Morris has been moved to the ministry of commerce, while the former foreign affairs minister George Wallace becomes special advisor to Sirleaf.

THE HAGUE, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - Judges presiding over the war crimes trial of ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor on Monday postponed proceedings until January to give his new defence lawyers time to prepare.

'The new defence team is entitled to additional time,' presiding judge Julia Sebutinde said, adding that a four-month delay was 'reasonable' given the complexity of the case.

The trial will resume on January 7, 2008.

The defence team had requested the postponement on the grounds that it was starting from 'ground zero' in terms of preparation.

THE HAGUE, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - Judges presiding over the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor on Monday postponed the case until January 7, 2008 to allow the new lawyers of the former Liberian president to prepare.

'The trial chamber is of the view that the new defence team is entitled to additional time,' presiding judge Julia Sebutinde said.

'A period of four months is indeed a reasonable time given the complexity of the case. The trial is adjourned until Monday January 7, 2008,' she added.

THE HAGUE, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - Judges presiding over the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor were to decide Monday whether to postpone proceedings, perhaps until next year.

The Sierra Leone tribunal, moved to The Hague for Taylor's trial, will hold a procedural hearing later Monday to consider a request from his new defence team to postpone the trial until January 7, 2008.

The prosecution has supported the move but said in a separate motion that the length of the adjournment should be decided by the judges.

THE HAGUE, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - Judges presiding over the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor are expected to decide Monday when the case will resume after his new defence team asked for a delay.

The trial chamber of the Sierra Leone tribunal, moved to The Hague for Taylor's trial, will hold a procedural hearing Monday to discuss the request of Taylor's new lawyers to postpone the trial until January 7, 2008. The prosecution has supported the move but said in a separate motion that the length of the adjournment should be decided by the judges.

FREETOWN, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - The new defence lawyers for ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor on Saturday launched a search for witnesses sympathetic to the former warlord in war-scarred Sierra Leone.

'I ... invite any Sierra Leonean with information regarding the defence of ex-president Charles Taylor to come forward,' said Courtenay Griffiths, who was appointed last month as the head of a new defence team.

MONROVIA, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - The United Nations is planning to slash the size of its peacekeeping force in Liberia by a third over the next three years, the UN chief said in a report obtained by AFP Friday.

The progress report from Ban Ki-moon said the UN planned by 2010 to reduce the current 14,000-strong force to 9,000 while the police presence would be scaled back from almost 1,200 to less than 750.

MONROVIA, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Sanctions against former Liberian president Charles Taylor and his entourage are impairing his ability to defend himself against war crimes charges, his lawyer said Wednesday.

The sanctions imposed by the United Nations are having a 'chilling effect' as witnesses sympathetic to Taylor are afraid to come forward, said Courtenay Griffiths, who was appointed last month as the head of a new defence team.

THE HAGUE, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - The war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor has been delayed again after his new lawyers asked for more time to study the case, the court announced Monday.

'The Charles Taylor trial will not proceed on August 20 as originally scheduled,' Solomon Moriba, a spokesman for the UN-backed Sierra Leone tribunal trying Taylor said in a statement.

MONROVIA, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Liberian police chief Beatrice Munnah Sieh has been put on probation and will undergo training abroad after a violent clash between police and security staff at Monrovia port, an official said Friday.

'The inspector general of police is hereby placed under three month probation with one month outside country training,' presidential spokesman Cyrus Badio said in a statement.

'President Ellen Sirleaf hopes that this one month training will enable her to get some knowledge so that she can do work with more maturity and professionalism.'

MONROVIA, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - Two alleged coup plotters facing treason charges in Liberia briefly appeared in court on Friday but their hearing was delayed indefinitely for logistical reasons.

Charles Julu, a former army chief of staff, and George Koukou, an ex-parliamentary speaker, were due to answer charges on suspicion of masterminding an alleged plot against the Liberian government.

The two, who were brought to court in handcuffs, were not asked to enter pleas.

MONROVIA, July 30, 2007 (AFP) - Liberian authorities on Monday postponed by four days a treason trial against two alleged coup plotters because of a scheduling conflict for the state prosecutor.

Charles Julu, a former army chief of staff and George Koukou, an ex-parliamentary speaker, were due in court on Tuesday to answer charges on suspicion of masterminding the alleged plot.

But the prosecutor Samuel Jacobs asked for the postponement of the case because he won't be available until Friday.

MONROVIA, July 30, 2007 (AFP) - Liberia on Monday resumed diamond trading after lifting a self-imposed ban on the gems, officials said.

'The moratorium was lifted this morning and we are now receiving applications for broker licences,' Deputy Mines Minister Kpandeh Fayah told AFP.

The embargo imposed four years ago had been in line with a UN ban on the country's diamonds, blamed for fuelling a barbaric 14-year civil war in the resource-rich west African nation.