Opposition leader returns

The return of exiled Liberian opposition leader Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to the capital, Monrovia, last week was a first step of a likely challenge to President Charles Taylor in the 2003 elections, diplomatic sources in Monrovia told IRIN. Johnson-Sirleaf, who lives in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire told supporters of her Unity Party at Monrovia airport on 25 November that her return was an effort to work with all parties to see how "Liberia could be moved forward". "There is a time for everything. This is Liberia's time for everyone to come together and put aside political differences because our people are suffering. Each and every citizen has a role to play in determining who becomes the next leader during the 2003 general and presidential elections," she said. Liberia is scheduled to hold presidential, parliamentary and local elections in late 2003. So far, other opposition leaders have not come out openly to challenge Taylor who beat Johnson-Sirleaf in 1997, winning more than 75 percent of the votes cast to the opposition leader's 10 percent. Apart from media events, including appearances on radio talk shows, the opposition leader was scheduled to visit the Ricks camp for the internally displaced later in the week, the sources said. On 13 November, Liberian opposition parties proposed to unite and field a single candidate against Taylor in the next presidential elections in 2003. "We want to become one single party and elect a new leader," Chea Cheapo, coordinator of the Committee for the Merger of Liberian Political Parties said. Cheapo added that the opposition leaders were discussing the proposed merger "with other Liberians in the diaspora and in refugee camps in Africa and elsewhere" and could include the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) which has fought Taylor since 1998.