High hopes for Africa’s first female president.

The week's news at a glance.

Liberia

What a “breathtaking performance,” said Bolade Omonijo in the Lagos, Nigeria, Vanguard. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a 67-year-old grandmother, made history this week by becoming Liberia’s president and Africa’s first elected female leader, capturing 60 percent of the vote. The odds against Johnson-Sirleaf were enormous. Not only did she have to overcome “cultural, legal, and political prejudices against womenfolk,” but she was also up against the country’s biggest hero, soccer star George Weah. In her savvy campaign, Johnson-Sirleaf deployed “all her assets.” She mobilized female voters, who are often all but ignored in African contests. And she emphasized her Masters from Harvard, contrasting her qualifications with the inexperience of her illiterate opponent. When nearly 85 percent of Liberians lack employment, she warned, “this is not the time to come and learn on the job.”

She’ll need help from her African neighbors, though, said the Kampala, Uganda, New Vision in an editorial. International observers declared the election free and fair, but Weah’s supporters don’t believe them. “Angry crowds” have been marching through the streets of the capital, Monrovia, protesting Johnson-Sirleaf’s victory and chanting “No Weah, no peace.” Most of the protesters are former child soldiers, “who form a large portion of the country’s wretched lot.” These are the same men who terrorized and traumatized the rest of the country under Taylor’s terrible reign. “It would not do to have these people on the edge.”

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