海角大神

In the middle of a sandy soccer field in the Monrovia neighborhood of Sinkor, over 100 women dressed in white sit in the shape of a crucifix hoping to draw God鈥檚 eyes down towards the small West African nation of Liberia. They are praying the nation鈥檚 elections to be held this month will be peaceful.

As cars zoom past on the facing road, opposite President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf鈥檚 house, the prayers of the women take to the wind 鈥� relived traumas from the nation鈥檚 bloody civil war that ended seven years ago and pleas for God鈥檚 mercy, mixed with prayers for the future.

鈥淧lease Papa, I beg you,鈥� says one woman. 鈥淲e have nowhere to go,鈥� repeats another with closed eyes. Some women weep as they mouth the outlines of a prayer.

Clouds gather and rain begins to pelt down but the women wrap cloth around their shoulders and faces, place plastic bags on their heads, and continue to call out to God. Many of them endured worse conditions and even slept out in the open field, back when they first formed a women鈥檚 movement and prayed for Charles Taylor and the warlords to end Liberia鈥檚 bloody 14-year civil war that left over 250,000 people dead and the nation鈥檚 infrastructure in tatters.

Bernice Freeman, a senior member of the Women in Peace Building Network, the organization behind the prayers, says the women are praying because they were concerned about some of the statements made by political leaders in the lead up to the lead up to the presidential, legislative, and senate elections all to be held on Oct. 11.

鈥淲e are praying because the utterances coming from the political parties are worrisome,鈥� says Ms. Freeman. 鈥淪omeone has said that they will not listen to the election commission results and the verdict of the international community鈥� it is worrisome鈥� that you say your own results.鈥�

Freeman鈥檚 comments come after local media outlets quoted chairman of the main opposition party Congress for Democratic Change Geraldine Doe-Sherrif saying the party would not respect the outcome of the election if there were a discrepancy between the results handed down by the National Electoral Commission and the results they tallied themselves.

Freeman and many of the other women were members of the Liberian Mass Action for Peace (LMAP), in which Muslim and 海角大神 women from all over Liberia gathered near a domestic airfield and a fish market in Monrovia to pray for peace in 2001 during Liberia鈥檚 second civil war. The movement was headed by Leymah Gbowee, a woman who had a dream in which she was called on to pray for peace and started a women鈥檚 海角大神 prayer group. Ms. Gbowee was later joined by a Muslim woman named Bah Kenneth and they formed the group (LMAP) that is the subject of the award-winning documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

In 2003, the women went to Accra, Ghana, where talks were being held between then-President Charles Taylor's government and the rebels from Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, and mounted pressure on the parties to commit to a peace agreement, which they ultimately did in August of that year.

Liberia has maintained peace since the end of the civil war, when rebel groups were still controlling the country and President Taylor 鈥� who is currently being tried for war crimes at an international court in The Hague 鈥� went into exile.

In 2005, with the assistance of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and its peacekeepers in Liberia, the nation held its first internationally monitored elections and saw President Sirleaf become the first female head of state in Africa. These elections will be the first elections since Liberia鈥檚 civil war to be conducted by the National Electoral Commission, who are aided by UNMIL and international observers and observers from ECOWAS and the African Union, and are seen by many as being a test for Liberia and its ability to maintain order and security.

But the special representative of the Secretary-General in Liberia, Ellen Margrethe L酶j, says that security concerns still remain, particularly due to the post-election violence in neighboring Cote d鈥橧voire that pushed an estimated 170,000 refugees into Liberia, along with combatants and arms.

鈥淚 do not see the consequences of the situation in the Cote d鈥橧voire and the elections being directly linked, but they could easily be so depending on how the situation develops,鈥� Ms. L酶j told 海角大神. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a fact that we have more weapons in Liberia than we did a year ago.鈥�

But L酶j says that domestic security was still a concern in a country where she said there is a 鈥渇ragile peace鈥�.

鈥淲e are keeping an eye on the situation all across the country.鈥�

Massa Kiadii, Freeman鈥檚 mother, was also part of the original woman鈥檚 movement. 鈥淕od brought me here this morning. We came to pray because we are hearing things about the election and people wanting to be violent.鈥�

鈥淭hey raped me. My son died,鈥� says the petite woman matter-of-factly.

Ms. Kiadii was from Grand Cape Mount County, near the border of Sierra Leone. She was raped by two child soldiers in the sight of her son and lost four children during the war. Three of her children were killed during a battle between rebels in the first war and her 7-year-old son died of starvation in 2002 in Monrovia.

Like many Liberians, she was forced to flee her village and driven toward the capital. She joined the prayer movement when her daughter saw women praying on the same field.

Isatta M. Kamara, also from Grand Cape Mount County, says she has a story that is 鈥渢oo long to tell鈥� and runs off a list of family members she lost during the war.

鈥淚 lost my husband and I lost my child," she says. "My father died, my uncle died, my older brother died, most of my people died in the war.鈥�

But women like Ms. Kamara say that things have improved for women and Liberians overall since the war.

鈥淟iberia has changed,鈥� Kamara says. 鈥淲e can get up and walk around outside and there is no trouble, so we are happy.鈥�

Freeman says the situation for Liberian women has changed significantly since the end of the civil war and since President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became the president of Liberia and Africa鈥檚 first female head of state.

鈥淢en are beginning to be afraid of women because we are powerful,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e have a president, we have senators and representatives who are women. We can speak out now鈥� we have rights and know our rights.鈥�

Freeman and the other women see themselves as being responsible for ending the war and believe that God will deliver again and ensure that the elections take place peacefully. But she finishes the interview with a stern statement: 鈥淲e are warning the political parties, that any political parties, whether they are male or female [headed], that we don鈥檛 war and if anyone causes trouble in the country we will expose them; the women will expose them.鈥�

--- [The original version incorrectly stated that former Liberian President Charles Taylor is being tried at the International Criminal Court.]