Liberia's President George Weah has called for the removal of a "racist" clause in the constitution which restricts citizenship to black people.
The clause was "unnecessary, racist and inappropriate", the ex-football star said in his first State of the Nation address since being elected president.
He also pledged to scrap the law that prohibits foreigners owning land.
Liberia was founded by freed US slaves in 1847 as "a refuge and a haven for freed men of colour".
Its constitution defines black people in the language of the time, as "persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent".
Other communities, like the estimated 4,000 Lebanese people who have lived in Liberia for generations, are barred from citizenship and, by extension, land ownership.
Read on :
George Weah vows to change Liberia's citizenship laws
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