Bush to visit Liberia and four other countries.

The White House announced Friday that United States President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush will visit five countries in a one-week tour of Africa next month. the trip will be an opportunity for the President to review firsthand the significant progress since his last visit in 2003 in efforts to increase economic development and fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other treatable diseases, as a result of the United States robust programs in these areas. President and Mrs. Bush will travel to Africa from February 15-21, 2008. They will visit Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. The President will meet with President Yayi, President Kikwete, President Kagame, President Kufuor, and President Johnson-Sirleaf to discuss how the United States can continue to partner with African countries to support continued democratic reform, respect for human rights, free trade, open investment regimes, and economic opportunity across the continent.
It will be the first time since 1978 that an American president visited Liberia.

Jimmy Carter visited Liberia in 1978, Thirty years prior to his visit, President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also visited Liberia during the second world war in 1943.

Give them their florwers when its due....

Today while searching the web for articles on the role of African countries intervention in the Liberian civil war for a School project i am doing, i stumble upon this article waging war to keep peace by the human rights watch organization http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/liberia/.

In their report they claim that (1) when the NPFL attack Monrovia in October 1992, ECOMOG aligned itself with two of the warring factions, the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO), which are themselves responsible for serious human rights abuses. This has raised questions about ECOMOG's commitment to human rights as well as its ability to act as a neutral arbiter of the conflict. (2) There have been many reports about ECOMOG involvement in looting and occasional harassment or detention of civilians, although ECOMOG has not been responsible for systematic human rights abuses in the territory it controls. However, there is serious concern about the civilian toll and violations of medical neutrality by ECOMOG's air strikes in NPFL territory. There is no indication that ECOMOG has conducted investigations into these incidents.

This was one of the most one sided report i have ever heard or seen, i lived in Monrovia when Charles taylor and his thugs and criminals try to overrun the capital, in their socalled octopus operation, and if it was not for the west african peace force, we would not have made it out,The west is always quick to discredit any African effort, where were they when rebels indiscriminately bombed and targeted civilians in Monrovia?, i was on 22 street in Sinkor and i saw first hand some of what Charles Taylor and his NPFL did, people were been killed all over the city, and what was the official U.S policy? then Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, on November 11. After an off-the-record briefing given at Harvard University on November 4, Cohen was taped as saying:
ECOWAS is unfortunately no longer a neutral party...They are now one of the combatants.




The video above shows some of what we had to endure at the hands of the Rebels.

I am glad Ecomog did all it could to protect us from those savages, i am glad they bomb the hell out of them, we who live in Monrovia at that time will always be thankful, and we will continue to give them their flowers, because they deserved it. Against all odds they were able to stop not only the carnage in Liberia, but also in neighboring Sierra Leone, and for that we will always be grateful. Thank you West Africa.