MONROVIA: Liberian President George Weah on Tuesday invited opponents to “round table” talks to seek solutions to the country’s economic woes, four days after thousands protested against rising prices and corruption.
Weah made his offer to “leaders of political parties, civil society groups, elders, religious leaders, our traditional leaders, student leaders and the business community,” in a speech aired on national radio.
He suggested “a round table discussion to afford them the opportunity to present their alternative views, or their suggestions on the economy.”
A protest coalition on Sunday gave Weah a string of demands with a four-week deadline.
They include improvements in areas such as human rights and corruption, as well as the prosecution of Finance Minister Samuel Tweah and Central Bank Governor Nathaniel Patray in connection with financial problems at the Central Bank of Liberia which led to price hikes.
The coalition also called for Weah and all of his officials to declare their assets.
Revered in Liberia and beyond for blazing a trail for African footballers in Europe, Weah is struggling to revive a country that is one of the poorest in the world and still traumatized by back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003 that claimed a quarter of a million lives.
Weah, 52, is now being challenged over the same issues on which he campaigned in his rise to the presidency of the West African state just 18 months ago.
In his radio address the Liberian president appealed to all citizens: “Let us sit and dialogue on the way forward. Bring your ideas to the table and I assure you that they will be given my most careful consideration.”
He acknowledged that the economy is still facing challenges, stressing that his government had inherited a broken economy.
Addressing last Friday’s peaceful protest, Weah said that “some of our citizens have exercised their constitutional rights to publicly assemble with the objective to petition their government. We commend them for the peaceful and orderly manner in which they exercised their rights.”
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President George Weah in talks offer to Liberian protesters
President George Weah in talks offer to Liberian protesters
- Weah, 52, is now being challenged over the same issues on which he campaigned in his rise to the presidency of the West African state just 18 months ago
- Weah acknowledged that the economy is still facing challenges, stressing that his government had inherited a broken economy
Zelensky says meeting with Trump to happen ‘in the near future’
KYIV: A meeting with US President Donald Trump will happen “in the near future,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday, signaling progress in talks to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
“We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” Zelensky wrote on X.
“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” he added.
Zelensky’s announcement came after he said Thursday he had a “good conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelensky said Tuesday he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.
In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70 percent of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.
On the ground, Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery Thursday using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region. “Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
“We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” Zelensky wrote on X.
“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” he added.
Zelensky’s announcement came after he said Thursday he had a “good conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelensky said Tuesday he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.
In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70 percent of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.
On the ground, Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery Thursday using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region. “Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
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