Ex-warlord emerges as kingmaker after Liberian vote

MONROVIA: Notorious ex-warlord Prince Johnson, who was filmed ordering his men to cut off the ears of dictator Samuel Doe two decades ago, has emerged as a surprising kingmaker in Liberia's presidential election.

Placing a strong third with half the polling stations tallied, the 59-year old former rebel leader looks like the man to court in a run-off election, which could prove sticky for new Nobel Peace Prize winner and incumbent president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

At his home in Monrovia, a large compound ringed by tall ochre walls topped with barbed wire, Johnson cuts a grandfatherly figure - far from the young general in army fatigues who took a bite out of Doe's ear before tossing it over his shoulder.

Goats and chickens roam the yard, and stone lions guard his house and a large palava hut, their teeth bared.

A large stone eagle, wings spread, is also in evidence as bodyguards, supporters and several of Johnson's 12 children mill around while he contemplates who he would support in a possible run-off.

Despite his violent past, which also included shooting a relief worker he accused of profiteering in front of international journalists, Johnson retains huge support in iron-rich Nimba county from where he hails.

He believes his selling point is that he is an indigenous Liberian - a sensitive issue in the country whose politics have been dominated by an Americo-Liberian elite descended from the freed US slaves who founded the country. (AFP)