Liberia lower house votes to set up war crimes court

Liberia's lower house of parliament has approved a motion to set up a war crimes court - more than two decades after the end of a devastating civil conflict.

In 2009 a Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended the establishment of the court but the move was resisted partly because a number of accused warlords remain influential.

About a quarter of a million people died during Liberia's civil wars between 1989 and 2003.

The atrocities included massacres, rape, cannibalism and the forced recruitment of child soldiers.

Lawmakers danced and sang as the resolution to set up a war crimes court was passed.

It will now be debated by Liberia's Senate before being passed on to President Joseph Boakai.