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An
African President Addresses the US Congress
An Appeal for Support by
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia
Text of the Address March 15, 2006
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President,
Members of the United States Congress, distinguished
guests,
I am deeply touched by the honor
bestowed on my small but proud West African Republic of
Liberia and on myself by inviting me to address this
body of representatives of the people of the great
United States of America. By this invitation, you have
paid one of the greatest tributes there is to those who
laid down their lives for my country to be free and
democratic. I can only say a big thank you.
The people of Liberia and the people
of the United States are bound together by history and
by values. We share a deep and abiding belief in the
power of freedom, of faith, and of finding virtue in
work for the common good.
The national motto of Liberia -
founded, as you know, by freed American slaves - is "The
Love of Liberty Brought us here." We became the first
independent Republic in Africa. Our capital, Monrovia,
is named for your president James Monroe. Our flag is
a star in a blue field and red and white stripes - its
one star makes us the lone star state in Africa. Our
constitution and our laws were based upon yours. The
U.S. dollar was long our legal tender and still is used
alongside the Liberian dollar today.
But our ties greatly exceed the
historical connection. I stand before you today, as the
first woman elected to lead an African nation, thanks to
the grace of Almighty God; thanks to the courage of the
Liberian people, who chose their future over fear;
thanks to the people of West Africa and of Africa
generally, who continued to give hope to my people.
Thanks also to President Bush whose strong resolve and
public condemnation and appropriate action forced a
tyrant into exile and thanks to you - the members of
this august body - who spurred the international effort
that brought blessed peace to our nation.
It was the leadership of the 108th
Congress, more than two years ago, that paved the way
for a United Nations force that secured our peace and
guaranteed free and fair elections. It was your 445
million dollar addition to a supplemental appropriation
that attracted additional commitments from international
donors. With those funds, we have laid the foundation
for a durable peace, not only in Liberia, but in the
whole West African sub-region. Special appreciation goes
to this 109th Congress for the effort, in recent weeks,
to meet Liberia's development needs.
Honorable ladies and gentlemen of
this Congress, I want to thank you. The Liberian people
have sent me here to thank you - thank you for your
vision. Our triumph over evil is also your triumph.
Our special relationship with the
United States brought us benefits long before the autumn
of 2003. Thousands of our people, including myself, have
been educated in American missionary schools and gone on
to higher training in this country. You have generously
welcomed tens of thousands of our people as they fled
war and persecution.
I was among them. In 1985, after
challenging the military regime's failure to register my
political party, I was put in jail with several
university students who also challenged the military
rule. This House came to our rescue with a resolution
threatening to cut off aid to the country unless all
political prisoners were released. Months later, I was
put in jail again, this time in a cell with 15 men. All
of them were executed a few hours later. Only the
intervention of a single soldier spared me from rape.
Through the grace of Almighty God and the mercy of
others, I escaped and found refuge here, in Washington,
D.C.
But long before that, our country and
I benefited from Liberia's special relationship with the
United States.
My family exemplifies the economic
and social divide that has torn our nation. Unlike many
privileged Liberians, I can claim no American lineage.
Three of my grandparents were indigenous Liberians; the
fourth was a German who married a rural market woman.
That grandfather was forced to leave the country when
Liberia - in loyalty to the United States - declared war
on Germany in 1914.
Both of my grandmothers were farmers
and village traders. They could not read or write any
language - as more than three-quarters of our people
still cannot today - but they worked hard, they loved
their country, they loved their families and they
believed in education. They inspired me then, and their
memory motivates me now to serve my people, to sacrifice
for the world and honestly serve humanity. I could not,
I will not - I cannot - betray their trust.
My parents were sent at a young age
to Monrovia, where it was common for elite families to
take in children from the countryside to perform
domestic chores. They endured humiliations and
indignities, but my mother was fortunate to be adopted
by a kind woman, and both my parents were able through
this system to go to school - a rarity at that time for
poor people. My father even became the first native
Liberian in the Liberian National Legislature.
I was not born with the expectation
of a university education from Harvard or being a World
Bank officer or an Assistant Secretary-General of the
United Nations. When I was a small girl in the
countryside, swimming, and fishing with twine made from
palm trees, no one would have picked me out as the
future president of our country.
I graduated from the College of West
Africa, a United Methodist high school. I waited tables
to support my studies in the United States - college in
Wisconsin and graduate school in Massachusetts. I went
on to enjoy the benefits and advantages of a world-class
education.
So my feet are in two worlds - the
world of poor rural women with no respite from hardship,
and the world of accomplished Liberian professionals,
for whom the United States is a second and beloved home.
I draw strength from both.
But most of our people have not been
as fortunate as I was. Always poor and underdeveloped,
Liberia is only now emerging from two decades of turmoil
that destroyed everything we managed to build in a
century and a half of independence.
The cost of our conflict run wide and
deep, manifested in varied ways - mismanagement,
corruption, bad governance, massive looting of public
treasury and assets. Unlike the Tsunami in Asia and
Katrina here in your own country, where the destruction
and human casualty were caused by nature, we
participated in or stood silently by in our own self
destruction. Our country agonized with your citizens and
victims and families of these natural tragedies and our
country also agonized with itself over the effects of a
senseless civil war.
In the campaign months, I traveled to
every corner of our country. I trudged through mud in
high boots, where roads did not exist or had
deteriorated past repair. I surveyed ruined hospitals
and collapsed clinics. I held meetings by candlelight,
because there is no electricity anywhere - including the
capital - except from private generators. I was forced
to drink water from creeks and un-sanitized wells all of
which made me vulnerable to the diseases from which so
many of our people die daily.
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I came face to face with
the human devastation of war, which killed a
quarter of a million of our three million
people and displaced most of the rest.
Hundreds of thousands escaped across
borders. More - who could not - fled into
the bush, constantly running from one
militia or another, often surviving by
eating rodents and wild plants that made
them sick and even killed them.
Our precious children
died of malaria, parasites, and
mal-nourishments. Our boys, full of
potential, were forced to be child soldiers,
to kill or be killed. Our girls, capable of
being anything they could imagine, were made
into sex slaves, gang-raped by men with
guns, made mothers while they were still
children themselves. |
But listening to the hopes and dreams
of our people, I recall the words of a Mozambican poet
who said, "Our dream has the size of freedom." My
people, like your people, believe deeply in freedom -
and, in their dreams, they reach for the heavens.
I represent those dreams. I represent
their hope and their aspirations. I ran for president
because I am determined to see good governance in
Liberia in my lifetime. But I also ran because I am the
mother of four, and I wanted to see our children smile
again.
Already, I am seeing those smiles.
For even after everything they have endured, the people
of Liberia have faith in new beginnings. They are
counting on me and my administration to create the
conditions that will guarantee the realization of their
dreams. We must not betray their trust.
All the children I meet - when I ask
what they want most - say, "I want to learn." "I want to
go to school." "I want an education." We must not betray
their trust.
Young adults, who have been called
our 'lost generation,' do not consider themselves lost.
They, too, aspire to learn and to serve their families
and their communities. We must not betray their trust.
Women, my strong constituency, tell
me that they want the same chances that men have. They
want to be literate. They want their work recognized.
They want protection against rape. They want clean water
that won't sicken and kill their children. We must not
betray their trust.
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Former soldiers tell me
they are tired of war; they do not want to
have to fight or to run again. They want
training. They want jobs. If they carry
guns, they want to do so in defense of peace
and security, not war and pillage. We must
not betray their trust.
Entrepreneurs who have
returned from abroad with all their
resources - risking everything to invest in
their country's future - tell me they want a
fair and transparent regulatory environment.
They want honesty and accountability from
their government. We must not betray their
trust.
Farming families who fled
the fighting for shelter in neighboring
countries or found themselves displaced from
their communities want a fresh start. |
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They want to return home. They want
seeds. They want farm implements. They want roads to get
their goods to market. We must not betray their trust.
I have many promises to keep. As I
won elections through a free and peaceful process, I
must preserve freedom and keep the peace. As I
campaigned against corruption, I must lead a government
that curbs it. As I was elected with the massive vote of
women, I must assure that their needs are met.
We are not oblivious to the enormity
of the challenges we face. Few countries have been as
decimated as ours. In the chaos of war, our HIV rates
have quadrupled. Our children are still dying of curable
diseases, tuberculosis, dysentery, measles, malaria and
parasites and malnutrition. Schools lack books,
equipment, teachers and buildings. The
telecommunications age has passed us by.
We have a 3.5 billion dollar external
debt, lent in large measure to some of my predecessors
who were known to be irresponsible, unaccountable,
unrepresentative and corrupt. The reality that we have
lost our international creditworthiness bars us from
further loans - although now we would use them wisely.
Our abundant natural resources have
been diverted by criminal conspiracies for private gain.
International sanctions, imposed for the best of
reasons, still prevent us from exporting our raw
materials. Roads and bridges have disappeared or been
bombed or washed away. We know that trouble could once
again breed outside our borders. The physical and
spiritual scars of war are deep indeed.
So with everything to be done, what
must we do first?
We must do everything we can to
consolidate the peace that so much was paid to secure,
and we must work to heal the wounds of war. We must
create an emergency public works program to put the
whole nation to work and give families an income through
the rebuilding of critical infrastructure, strengthening
security and attracting investment.
We must rehabilitate the core of an
electricity grid to high-priority areas and institutions
- and visibly demonstrate to the people that government
can provide necessary services.
We must bring home more of our
refugees, and resettle the displaced. We must give them
the tools to start anew, and encourage more of our
skilled expatriates, who have the knowledge and the
experience to build our economy to return home. For
those unable to come home now, we must appeal to you to
grant them continuing protective status, and residency
where appropriate, to put them in a condition to
contribute to their country's reform and development.
We must complete the demobilization
of former combatants and restructure our army, police
and security services. We must create legal systems that
preserve the rule of law, applied to all without fear or
favor.
We must revive educational
facilities, including our few universities. We must
provide essential agricultural extension services to
help us feed ourselves again, developing the science and
technology skills to insure that we prosper in a modern
global economy.
We must create an efficient and
transparent tax system, to ensure the flow of government
revenues and create a hospitable investment climate.
With few resources beyond the will of
our people, I want you to know we have made a strong
beginning. During my first few weeks in office, by
curbing corruption we have increased government revenue
by 21 percent, relative to the same period last year.
We have cancelled non compliant forestry concessions and
fraudulent contracts. We have required senior government
appointees to declare financial assets; implemented cash
management practices to insure fiscal discipline and
sharpen efficiency; met the basic requirements for
eligibility under the US general system of preferences
and initial Exim Bank support. We have restored good
relationships with bilateral and multilateral partners;
commenced the process leading to an IMF Staff Monitoring
Program; accelerated implementation of the Governance
Economic Management Plan - the G-Map; and we have also
launched a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to
investigate the abuses of war.
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But while we seek
national unity and reconciliation, we must
not sacrifice justice. I respect the
life-saving role that our West African
neighbors, particularly Nigeria, played at
no small cost to them in accepting to host
Mr. Charles Taylor. Liberians are deeply
grateful. But I say here, as I have said
before, Liberia has little option but to see
that justice is done in accordance with the
requirements of the United Nations and the
broad international community.
I know that my government
must go beyond these strong beginnings; must
do much more than we have done so far, and
we must do it quickly. |
Our people's courage and patience are
formidable, but their expectations are high. And their
needs are urgent.
This does not mean that we want big
government. We cannot afford it, and we believe that
government should not attempt to do what civil society
and business can do better.
The people of Liberia know that
government cannot save the country - only their own
strength, their determination, their creativity,
resilience and their faith can do that. But they have
the right to expect the essentials that only a
government can provide.
They have the right to a government
that is honest and that respects the sanctity of human
life. They need and they deserve an economic environment
in which their efforts can succeed. They need
infrastructure and they need security. Above all, they
need peace.
That is the task of my
administration. To meet that challenge, to do what is
right, I ask for the continuing support of this Congress
and the American people.
Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen, my
appeal comes with the recognition of all that you have
already done. In addition to the financial assistance to
disarm our fighters, to feed and house our displaced,
the artful diplomacy of the United States was central to
ending our long conflict. We thank you with all our
hearts.
As small and as impoverished as we
are, we cherish the friendship we have had with you.
During the Second World War, we stood together, even if
only symbolically, to fight Nazi expansionism and
tyranny. At the request of President Roosevelt, we
planted rubber trees after the Japanese seized the
Indonesian supply. When U.S. laws prohibited sending
ships to a Europe at war, we agreed to establish a
shipping registry to help transport American goods.
During the Cold War, we hosted a
submarine tracking center, an intelligence listening
post and one of the largest Voice of America
transmitters in the world.
Again, we ask that we continue
working together but we do not ask for patronage. We do
not want to continue in dependency. The benefits of your
assistance must be mutual.
Honorable members of Congress, much
is at stake for all of us.
Liberia at war brought misery and
crimes against humanity to its neighbors - a toll that
is beyond calculation. A peaceful, prosperous Liberia
can contribute to democracy, stability and development
in West Africa and beyond.
Nine times - nine times! - in the
past 15 years, the United States has been forced to
evacuate official Americans and their dependents from
our country, at enormous cost to your taxpayers.
Monrovia, I am told, is the most-evacuated U.S. embassy
in the world. I am determined that you will not need to
rescue your people from our shores for a tenth time. You
contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to a UN
Peacekeeping Force in Liberia. A fraction of this will
be required to support a peaceful and stable Liberia.
Honorable Members of this great
Congress, think with me about this. What is the return
on an investment that trains young combatants for life,
rather than death? What is the yield when our young men
can exchange their guns for jobs? What is the savings in
food aid when our people can feed themselves again? What
is the profit from educating our girls to be scientists
and doctors? What is the dividend when our dependence
ends, and we become true partners rather than
supplicants?
Honorable Members, we know that there
is no quick fix for the reconstruction of our country,
but Liberians, young and old, share their government's
commitments to work, to be honest, to unite, to
reconcile and to rebuild. A nation so well endowed, so
blessed by God with natural resources, should not be
poor. We have rubber and timber and diamonds and gold
and iron ore. Our fields are fertile. Our water supply
is plentiful. Our sunshine is warm and welcoming.
With your prayers and with your help,
we will demonstrate that democracy can work, even under
the most challenging conditions. We will honor the
suffering of our people, and Liberia will become a
brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and the world of
what the love of liberty can achieve. We will strive to
be America's success story in Africa, demonstrating the
potential in the transformation from war to peace;
demonstrating the will to join in the global fight
against terrorism; demonstrating that democracy can
prevail, demonstrating that prosperity can be achieved.
The people of Liberia have already
rolled up their sleeves, despite overwhelming obstacles,
confident that their work will be rewarded, confident in
the hope and promise of the future.
The women of Liberia and the women of
Africa, some in the market place and some in high level
of Government have already shared their trust and their
confidence in my ability to succeed, and ensure that the
doors of competitive politics and professionalism will
be opened even wider for them.
Honorable members, I will succeed. I
will not betray their trust. I will make them proud - I
will make you proud - of the difference which one woman
with abiding faith in God can do.
God bless you.
* * *
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The 35-minute speech, to a full
chamber and packed visitors' galleries, was interrupted
33 times by applause, including a dozen by standing
ovation. One of the loudest and longest ovations came
when she said: "I stand before you today as the first
woman elected to lead an African nation." Vice President
Dick Cheney, in his capacity as president of the Senate,
and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert jointly
presided, with members of the Cabinet and diplomatic
corps in attendance. Sirleaf became the fourth African
head-of-state and the eighth woman to address a joint
meeting.
Source:
All Africa.Com
posted 19 March 2006 * * *
* *
Liberia is ‘fastest-improving
African nation’—Liberia, which was rated as
recording the fastest gains, is emerging from the legacy
of a 14-year civil war that ended in 2003. President
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who became Africa’s first female
elected head of state in 2005, has won the support of
donors for her plans to boost economic growth and fight
corruption.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund
cleared Liberia to enter a global debt relief programme earlier this
year. Donors have, however, been concerned that few high-level
officials have been prosecuted for corruption. Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf
set up an anti-corruption commission last month in response to calls
for tougher action.
Financial Times
* * * * *
update 4 October 2008 |
