JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH MONROVIA
Liberia's truth and reconciliation commission has recommended barring President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and 50 other high-profile figures from public office for three decades for supporting armed groups in the country's civil wars.
Sirleaf, 70, acknowledged before the commission in February that she gave up to $10,000 (£6000) to a rebel group headed by Charles Taylor, viewed by many as the chief architect of Liberia's back-to-back civil wars, which lasted from 1989 to 2003.
Sirleaf, Africa's first democratically elected female leader, said the money she sent while an expatriate was meant for humanitarian services.
"If there is anything that I need to apologise for to this nation, it is to apologise for being fooled by Mr Taylor in giving any kind of support to him," Sirleaf said in February.
From 1989 to 1997, Taylor led the rebel National Patriotic Front of Liberia. His men are accused of systematic rape, razing villages, assassinations and cannibalism.
If the legislature approves the recommendations and they become law before the 2011 presidential poll, it would block a second term chance for Sirleaf.-AP
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