AROUND TOWN: Former Liberian president to speak at UNLV on Friday

Former Liberian President Amos Sawyer will discuss the state of Liberian politics and the country’s path to peace after a film screening of “Pray the Devil Back To Hell,” a true account of unsung heroes of Liberia: women who banded together to fight for peace in a country embroiled in decades of civil war and dictatorship.

The film showcases successful non-violent demonstrations that influenced the exile of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor and the election of the country’s first female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The film, which won the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival award for best documentary feature, is presented as part of the “Peace in the Desert” speaker series at Boyd School of Law’s Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution.

The event takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 6 in the Greenspun Hall Auditorium at UNLV and is free and open to the public

--Laura Emerson