New Liberia president Weah to visit France

Paris, France | AFP | Liberia’s new president, the ex-footballer George Weah, will visit France later this month and meet President Emmanuel Macron, the Elysee Palace announced Thursday.

“This will be George Weah’s first trip to Europe since his election”, a statement said, calling his victory “an exemplary democratic change of power”.

Weah, 51, took over from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who over 12 years steered the West African country away from the trauma of a civil war but failed to ease dire poverty.

His election win was a watershed moment for Liberia’s poor, many of whom view his ascent from Monrovia’s slums to the nation’s highest office with a feeling close to reverence.

Weah’s trip from February 20 to 23 will be dedicated to “the challenges facing Liberia, especially economic growth and youth employment” as well as the “role of sport as a factor of development”, the French presidency said.

It will also be an opportunity for Macron “to start a partnership with a president who embodies the new generation of heads of state, who with France, wishes rebuild relations between France, Europe and Africa”.

Last week, France added Liberia and The Gambia to the 17 priority countries of French development aid.

Weah played for top-flight teams in France, Italy and England in the 1990s and was crowned FIFA player of the year.