Hailing the Ongoing Zwedru Peace Initiatives

This weekend marks another significant period in the history of Liberia. After a meeting held in the City of Sanniquellie, Nimba County decades ago between the late President William V.S. Tubman of Liberia and Presidents Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea directed toward African Unity, Zwedru in Grand Gedeh County is currently hosting a meeting of chiefs and Heads of State of Liberia and La Cote d’Ivoire.

The meeting, which began yesterday with a meeting of chiefs from Liberia and La Cote d’Ivoire, is discussing peace and security at the porous Liberian-Ivorian borders. The Liberians and Ivoirians are meeting months following intermittent ‘cross-border attacks’ reportedly in support of Ivorian descendents opposed to the Government of President Alhassan Watara.

The mere fact that the meeting is taking place in Grand Gedeh County  from where the reports had come about subversive activities, the leaders of Liberia and La Cote d’Ivoire must be hailed for such decentralization efforts that will leave behind an indelible print not only in the county and its environs, but also the minds of the peoples of the two countries. With the involvement of the chiefs who reside in these bordering territories of the two countries, one can only expect that at the end of this all important meeting, commitments toward the maintenance/sustenance of peace and security will be made practical.

Sincerely, this is one moment that every Liberian and Ivorian must cherish and welcome, owing to the fact that the ongoing talks are divorced from urbanization- something that has always been since the Sanniquellie Summit of Heads of State, which gave rise to the formation of what is known as the African Union (formerly the Organization of African Unity or OAU) even though not much credit Liberia has be given on the continent for this.

Again, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and her Ivorian counter-part, Alhassan Watara, along with their respective chiefs and officials must be commended for working tirelessly for the successful hosting of the ongoing meeting in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County.

To the Superintendent and people of Grand Gedeh County, we applaud you for hosting the two leaders and their officials for such peace conference, we believe, you consider vital to the security of your county and those of your neighbors in Liberia and counter-parts in La Cote d’Ivoire. Let the Zwedru peace and security meeting be the beginning to the end of subversive activities; threats of war; speculations; as well as accusations and counter-accusations, among others.