Children danced in the streets of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Friday night and cars flashed their blinker lights in celebration after mains electricity was restored to part of the city for the first time in 10 years.
The European Union has provided a diesel-powered generator at a cost of $100 000 and fuel to run it.
However, officials said power lines were torn down and transformer equipment was stolen during Liberia’s 14-year civil war, so restoring electricity to all of Monrovia would take some time.
Over the past decade only those wealthy enough to afford private generators have been able to light their homes and power their air conditioners.
The lights were turned on first in the eastern suburb of Sinkor, where the presidential palace, Parliament buildings and judiciary are located.
”Now I know that Liberia is getting back on its feet again,” said taxi driver Isaac Jacobs.
The EU promised in mid-September that power would be restored to Monrovia ”within a matter of days”.
However, Geoffrey Rudd, the EU charge d’affairs in Liberia, said the project took longer than expected due to the extensive looting of equipment and damage to power lines.
Rudd said the EU ultimately aimed to restore power throughout the country by repairing a major hydro-electric dam near Monrovia that was damaged by fighting in the early 1990s.
But, he added, that ”is dependent upon an improved security situation in the country”.
Following a peace agreement signed in August, about 5 000 UN peacekeeping troops have been deployed in Liberia to back a broad-based transitional government charged with organising fresh elections in 2005.
However, they have yet to impose order on most of the rebel-occupied interior where sporadic clashes still take place. United Nations officials say the peacekeepers will only take full control of Liberia once the force reaches its full strength of 15 000 men in March.
Joseph Maya, the head of Liberia’s state-owned power company, said a feasability study conducted in 2001 concluded that repairs to the Saint Paul’s hydro-electric power station at White Plains on the northern outskirts of the city would cost $60-million.
But he added: ”Even if that money is available, the entire rehabilitation process will take three solid years.” — Irin