Condoleezza Rice is far becoming a household name in Africa, if not Liberia apparently due to her color as a black American. She accompanied President Bush on his recent trip to Africa, including Liberia.

Back in Washington, she has been assessing the trip which according to analysts put smiles on the faces of many Liberians, saying “It was moving to be in Liberia.”

“We’ve just concluded an extraordinary trip to Africa. It really was an extraordinary trip. It was wonderful to see how the people of the five countries that we visited are really responding to not just the generosity of America, but to the challenge to use these innovative programs, whether it is the Millennium Challenge or the President’s Malaria Initiative or, of course, PEPFAR, to better their lives,” this is how she began her assessment of the trip to Africa.

• President Bush kisses Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice look on after the three visiting dignitaries received honours from the Liberian government at a ceremony in the Executive Residence in Monrovia February 21, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Reed

According to the US Secretary of State, it was really quite good to be with good leaders who she says are trying to better the lives of their people, adding “We were able to talk about the value of partnership.”

She told members of Congress that it has been very much this President’s view that Africans, given an opportunity and given some assistance, can indeed solve their own problems and that we ought to do this in partnership.

On Liberia, Secretary Rice recounted that it was quite remarkable how far Liberia, a country from the “extraordinarily dark days of 1994,” was moving.

“Liberia, where the intervention of the United States in helping the Liberians to first rid themselves of Charles Taylor, then to get control of the security situation, and it was really very moving to be in Liberia, a country with which, of course, we share a particular history,” she said.

She said she was looking at President Ellen (Helene) “when I say that. Helene, your book was--everybody was reading it”.

According to her, it was quite a remarkable story, but it is quite something to go to Liberia and to see the two flags side by side. She said the flags are very much like the because of long history of Liberia having been founded by freed American slaves.
 
“I particularly was glad to go to the University of Liberia where my aunt, my father’s sister, taught as a professor of literature on an exchange program from Southern University, a historically black college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1961.”

She said that shows the long history of engagement and tradition between, particularly, African American populations and Liberia.  It was the US Secretary of State second time coming to Liberia. She was a member of the US delegation that attended the inauguration of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on January 16, 2006.

She also commented on their trip and discussions with the leaders of others countries, particularly President Kikwete of Tanzania, who is now the head of the AU.

Their discussion focused on remaining conflict situations in Africa, particularly about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the United States has been very involved in helping to resolve that conflict. She acknowledged that there are still problems in Eastern Congo.

“We talked about Sudan, how to reinforce the CPA, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and South which ended decades of civil war that really had caused literally millions of lives, and how to strengthen that portion while addressing the challenges of Darfur in a more urgent manner. And I think you probably heard the President on that,” she said.