Princess Tokbah yanked on the cord of a heavy chainsaw, revving it to life and shattering the silence on a hillside outside Liberia's capital, Monrovia. But at the age of 12, Princess was one of thousands of young girls forced to fight in the brutal conflicts that ravaged this country between and Tyrant's trial at risk from lack of cash. Taylor refuses to attend opening of his war crimes trial.
Cost of wars in Africa 'equal to all aid money'. Her wages pay for two of her three children to attend the schooling she was denied during the war. That is my dream. Across Liberia, women are catching up on missed education, finding jobs and rebuilding their lives thanks to programmes set up by aid agencies including Plan International, one of this year's Telegraph Christmas Appeal Charities, supported by the Lord Deedes of Aldington Trust.
The agency, which sponsors children in developing countries with donations from individuals in the West, is running a global campaign called "Because I am a Girl", which highlights women's rights. Few countries could benefit more than Liberia from such a campaign.
It is thought that 70 per cent of women here were raped during the wars. Today, those who were once part of fierce all-girl units led by colonels such as Black Diamond, famous for her skill with an AK47, can look to their president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female president, for a role model. Since she came to power two years ago, Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf, 69, has championed the role of women in this west African country. For too long, she said, "Liberian women endured the injustice of being treated as second-class citizens".
Now, she has promised, "the best days are coming, the future belongs to us because we have taken charge of it". Amid the ruined landmarks, on the potholed and mud-washed streets of Monrovia, policewomen in fresh uniforms blast on their whistles to direct traffic. Female teams sweep rubbish and plant trees, hired for an urban "beautification" drive to clean up the capital. The world's only all-woman United Nations peacekeeping force, from India, was deployed in Liberia this year, bringing what its commander, Colonel Seema Dhundia, calls "a woman's diplomacy skills" to front line policing.
