The year was 1985. The place...the west African nation of Liberia. There had just been an attempted coup against dictator Samuel Doe.

The coup failed. And government soldiers were rounding up Doe's critics.

One was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Today, she is the President of Liberia.

But on that day 24 years ago, Sirleaf's fate rested in the hands of the soldiers who were driving her toward their barracks.

"Give Us Hope" was the choice of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to end today's program.

The performer is Sundaygar Dearboy.

And he, like Ms. Sirleaf, has an interesting past. Dearboy was a member of Charles Taylor's rebel movement.

Liberian witnesses have testified that Dearboy raped a young woman and murdered several people back then. He denies the allegations.

But they lend, shall we say, an ironic touch to Sirleaf's choice of "Give Us Hope."

Her son tells us that the president is aware of the accusations. But, he says, the civil war has touched everyone in Liberia. And his mother is part of the healing process.