21 February 2008
Bush Pledges 1 Million Schoolbooks for Liberian Children
U.S. president honored by Africa's first freely elected woman president
Monrovia, Liberia -- On the final stop of his five-nation Africa tour, President Bush told the Liberian people that the United States stands with them and will help them recover from decades of civil war. As part of that effort, he pledged 1 million textbooks for Liberian schools and locally made school desks and seating for 10,000 Liberian schoolchildren.
In remarks on the parade grounds at the Barclay Training Center in Monrovia February 21, Bush said, “The people of the United States will stand with you as you rebuild your country.” The center is an operations and training base for the Liberian military.
The United States is working with the Liberian government to restructure and professionalize Liberian security forces. Since the end of the country’s civil war, the United States has helped Liberia revitalize its economy, strengthen good governance and the rule of law and deliver basic services. The United States also has provided more than $750 million in direct support and funds a quarter of the costs of U.N. peacekeeping operations in Liberia.
Bush credited Liberia with making progress because of the “iron will” of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first freely elected woman president in Africa, who Bush said has “opened up a new relationship” between the United States and Liberia. Bush also thanked the Liberian people for their “courage, steadfastness and enduring faith in the power of freedom.”
The American and Liberian people, Bush said, are fighting the scourge of diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, working to remove the burden of debt and to educate the children of Liberia. Additionally, Bush said the United States, in concert with others, is working to “build a new armed forces that will be a source of security for the Liberian people instead of a source of terror.”
In her comments, Sirleaf thanked the people of the United States for their continued economic and technical assistance in the areas of roads, electricity, health, education and rural governance and for such initiatives as HIV/AIDS assistance under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), debt relief and education aid.
Sirleaf said she was deeply honored two years ago when a U.S. delegation headed by first lady Laura Bush attended her inauguration as president. “That show of support helped immensely in signaling to the world that our bilateral relationship is back on track. Indeed, Liberia is open for business with America and the world.”
Sirleaf also pledged that Liberia will seek trade -- not aid -- to achieve its economic growth and will look to the private sector to be the engine of growth for its economy.
Earlier, at the Liberian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bush told Sirleaf: “We want to help you recover from a terrible period. We want you to build lives of hope and peace.” He added that under her leadership that recovery now is well under way.
Bush told his Liberian counterpart, “I loved all the smiles and enthusiasm along the route,” in an apparent reference to the thousands of schoolchildren, dressed in a wide variety of colors identifying the schools they attend, who had lined the streets to welcome him. They cheered and waved American and Liberian red, white and blue flags, which look very similar in color and design.
On their arrival in Monrovia, the Bushes were greeted by Sirleaf, a military band and honor guard. Billboards bearing pictures of both the U.S. and Liberian presidents could be seen along the main streets, as well as Liberian and American flags hanging from lampposts along with framed portraits of President Bush.
The February 15-21 trip by the president and the first lady has taken them to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.
Before leaving for Washington, the president and first lady participated in a round table discussion on teacher training at the University of Liberia -- the nation’s only public university.
Liberia, “land of the free,” was founded by free African Americans and freed slaves from the United States in the 1800s. An initial group of 86 immigrants, who came to be called Americo-Liberians, established a settlement in Christopolis (now Monrovia, named after U.S. President James Monroe) on February 6, 1820.
Thousands of freed American slaves and free African Americans arrived in the years that followed, leading to the formation of more settlements and culminating in a declaration of independence of the Republic of Liberia on July 26, 1847.
From 1989 to 1996, one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars took place in Liberia, claiming the lives of more than 200,000 Liberians and displacing 1 million others into refugee camps in neighboring countries. The country endured many more years of uncertainty until November 23, 2005, when the Liberian Election Commission announced that Sirleaf had been elected president.
On November 5, 2007, the Harvard-educated Sirleaf was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award given by the president of the United States. (See "Bush Applauds Recipients of 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom.")
