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On Thursday U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Liberia, the last destination in his six-day
trip to Africa and the most loyal ally of the U.S. on the continent.
Air Force One landed at Monrovia's
international airport where Bush and his wife, Laura, were welcomed by President
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female president of Africa.
She took the office in 2006.
This is the first visit to the small-English speaking
country of a U.S president in the last 30 years.
Liberia
is the first republic from the African continent which was founded in 1847 by
freed slaves from America.
Bush is scheduled to speak at a U.S.-funded military
training facility where Liberians are trained by the U.S. defense contractors to form a
new army after the 1989-2003 civil war in which 200,000 people have died.
Washington has offered $139
million to Liberia
since 2003 to modernize the army.
Bush will also announce a contribution of 1 million
textbooks and desks for 10,000 Liberian children, Reuters reports.
Liberia
was the last country to get visited by Bush in his tour to Africa
during his last year as president. On his trip to the African continent he has
been offering support for health, education and good governance projects.
He has also visited Benin,
Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana
where he promoted his projects of anti-malaria and anti-AIDS and also backed the
efforts to end the crisis both in Kenya
and Darfur.
In Benin Bush got a day named in his honor while in Ghana a street was
named after him.
Liberia
has said that is regarding the U.S as its “big brother” since it has such lose ties
with it.
Also Liberia
was the only country to accept to host the Africom, which is a new continental U.S.
military command.
According to Bush, the program will offer African states a
chance to have a military training and assistance in order to handle the future
problems of Africa.
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