President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has joined youths representing the five tribal groups in Nimba County to plant a "peace tree", as the beginning of ending years of ethnic and land conflicts in that part of the country.

The Liberian leader and the youths planted the tree Sunday morning, July 25, 2010 on the campus of the newly established Nimba Community College in Sanniquellie City.

The planting ceremony took place moment after President Sirleaf cut ribbon and dedicated the college.

President Sirleaf described the initiative as a laudable move by the youth of the county who have decided to put behind the county and people's old-age problem of disunity.

President Sirleaf, who threw several shovelsful red-brownish dirt at the bottom of the Kola Nut tree erected in the soil before passing it over to top Nimba-hailed government officials, said she hopes as the tree grows into maturity, so strong will the bond of unity and peace be among the people of Nimba.

Nimba, Sanniquellie City in particular, is a very significant in Liberian and African history. It is where the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union war born.

It was in Sanniquellie in 1959, the leaders of Ghana, Guinea, and Liberia, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, and President Tubman respectively, gathered and made history, as they discussed the formation of the Organization of African Unity.

Endowed with huge deposit of natural resources, Nimba is the second largest and populated county in Liberia with a population of 482, 028 (2008 National census).

All 16 tribes of Liberia are found there, with the five largest (among whom disputes have saturated) being the Gios, Manos, Krahns, Gbis and Mandingos.

Planting the "Peace Tree", the youth of the country said they no longer want to go back to the days of old, but wanted to coexist and build Nimba for the future generation.

Stanley M. Beain, acting President of the Federation of Nimba Youth, said they wanted to set a precedent that the coming generation will follow.

Mr. Beain, from the Gio tribe, said they decided to select kola tree as the Peace Tree, because in the Liberian culture it is noted that "he who brings Kola nut bring life".

He said Kola Nut is often used to welcome and settle disputes among people, and noted that the Peace Tree will grow to strengthen peace ands unity among al tribes of the country.

Mr. Beain and each of the five tribes' youth representatives including Richard Wright (Gio), Eddie Gbetu (Mano), Odysseus Dekpeh (Gbi), Alphanso Myers (Krahn) and Keneth Nluho (Madingo) held the tree and spoke their respective dialects, evoking a loud applause.

In her Independence day address 24 hours later, President Sirleaf said the issues that divide the people of Nimba are the same ones that divide Liberia as a nation, listing ethnic and other social tensions related to land disputes, and, sometimes, religious schisms.

"It is these tensions which have prevented us from finding sustainable solutions to pertinent political, economic, and social problems," the Liberian leader said, but hopefully stating, "Yet, I believe that this county, Nimba, could take the lead in promoting diversity, given the number of tribes that are found here.

She said what the people of Nimba needed most was to reconcile themselves by overcoming divisions over ethnicity and land, which have stood tall among them for years.

During program marking the Nimba Youth day, on the eve of Independence Day, the young people of the county declared their total support to work towards achieving total unity in the county.

Delivering a statement on behave of her colleagues, Miss Luticia Acheampong stress the importance of the county's youth in finding peace in Nimba.

She stated that that bridging the Ethnic Divide for Social Harmony and Integration (her topic) in the county is on the over all average resting on the shoulders of the young people of Nimba.

"We as the young people have the tasks as present and future leaders of this county to wake up and vigorously battle the dreadful ideology of ethnic differences which once destroyed our beloved county economically, socially, educationally etc.," she said.

These vices, she feared, still have the propensity to further damage the county "if we cannot immediately erect a cemented check points before this destructive beliefs".

"We are making a call which is not optional but a duty to all the young people of this county to serve as agent of change, foot soldiers to sensitize the minds of fellow Nimbanians that tribalism is damaging for this new political and democratic dispensation," she noted.

She challenged her colleagues to be cognizant of the fact that none of them chose to be born in a particular ethnic group and reminded them that all of them were born and found themselves as part of the various tribes.

Miss Acheampong argued that being a member of another tribe "does not give the clue to convict some one because of his/her tribe or ethnic background".

"We must receive and accept each other as Nimbanians. As young people of this county, we must concentrate on the development in the county instead of tribalism. We must speak as a unit; we must seek the well-being of every citizen from this county, making available equal opportunities for education for all young people, equal distribution of resources within every sector of the county for development purposes," she said forcing her audience including President Sirleaf to render applause.