The greatest danger now is that expectations are too high. The euphoria of the end of the conflict will soon be forgotten.

The Liberian people have made their choice through the ballot today, and we are all obliged to respect the choice made by the men and women of this nation,

I hope it will be resolved in a peaceful manner.

Economic hope I think is crucial. There is a window of opportunity here, but that would not last forever.

The observer mission has termed the elections free and fair. Party representatives were present in, I believe, just about every polling station and they signed off on the records.

The next two years will be critical for Liberia.

offered the people of Liberia an opportunity to leave behind the conflict that has devastated this country for so long and turned the page on a very dark chapter in their history.

Poverty is pervasive, the productive base of the economy has been destroyed. None of that can be fixed with the best will in the world in a few months,

The United States has made a start here, training the army, but this goes beyond one partner and I hope others will come in,

Considerable assistance from donors, including debt relief, will be needed in the early years. That is inevitable because there are things that government needs to do: infrastructure has to be built, and so on.