Forging and sustaining diplomatic links with other countries for Liberia is a constitutional role that lies squarely within the domain of the presidency.

	• President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

President Johnson-Sirleaf has always explored these possibilities somewhat stealthily or routinely.

One of the least thought of angles that many political pundits could not have placed on the radar of prominence is Namibia, which however has played prominent roles in the recent transformation of the country from chaos to the current state of peace.

On July 15, 2008, the Liberian leader set in motion what has become another milestone in the reconfiguration of the modern diplomacy of the country by drawing closer Windhoek to Monrovia, as The Analyst Managing Editor Stanley Seakor relays in this special report.

Liberian leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has lauded the peacekeeping role of Namibia in restoring her postwar country. Addressing a joint session of the Parliament of the southern African country, President Sirleaf, who was paying her first state visit there extolled the gallantry of peacekeepers of Namibia in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

“I would like on behalf of the Liberian people to commend the Government and people of Namibia for their contribution of troops to the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the gallantry and sacrifices they made so that our peace can be consolidated,” the President declared.

Noting that the Namibian contingent was highly representative of the values for which in Namibians stand, the first African female head of state, said that the performance of the contingent was exemplary.

“We are all proud of their accomplishments and I wish to express deepest gratitude on behalf of the Liberian people,” President Sirleaf re-emphasized amidst applause.

The Liberian leader, who recently served as honored keynote speaker at the 90th birth anniversary of the former South African president Nelson Mandela, told the Namibian Parliament that her presence in Namibia was evidence of her desire and the country’s to forge bilateral cooperation in all spheres with the Republic of Namibia.

President Sirleaf then used the occasion to recount the significant milestones of her administration since the cessation of hostilities in the country.

Beginning with what she described as the ‘watershed in Liberia’s history’, the President said that through the 2005 elections, Liberians declared loudly and clearly that they an end to war and government mismanagement for a new beginning based on peace, inclusive economic opportunities and respect for justice and basic human rights.

She said Liberians further voted to express their desire for security, freedom and opportunity- security in their everyday lives, freedom from abuse and oppression and the opportunity to provide for their families.

According to the President, since this historic vote, her administration has assertively embarked on the ‘revitalization of the economy by almost trebling the levels of budgetary income’.

She mentioned government’s success in completing a yearlong International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff Monitored Program that has enabled the country to reach full Decision Point and that the country is well on the road of clearing gargantuan US$4.7 billion dollar external debts under the scheme known as the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).

She also declared that her government had made progress in its fight against corruption by reviewing and renegotiating all inherited problematic commercial contracts with the support of the National Legislature.  Ellen said that these endeavors had resulted to the global body relaxing sanctions on the country’s diamond and timber exports.

President Sirleaf related that an anti-corruption policy and its implementation strategy were concluded while a National Corruption Commission Act was under deliberation at  the Legislature.

She credited the efforts of her hosts in this regard by saying that Liberia stands to learn from their example. Amongst progress made by the administration, the President said that reforms had been made in the Civil Service while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that gears to reconcile the nation was fully operational.

She also recounted the efforts in restoring infrastructure and basic services like health and education as well as electricity and water, she said these crucial areas were at various rates of accomplishments.

The Liberian leader then focused on issues that she called challenges that continue to plague the third world countries. She listed these as rising food prices, increasing cost of crude oil and environmental degradation accompanied by global warming that would hinder achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Ellen, who recalled the historic roles played by Liberia in the fight against colonialism on the continent of Africa, paid special tributes to two of her predecessors including William V. S. Tubman and William R. Tolbert, who are noted for both providing sanctuary for liberation fighters and challenging the obnoxious system of racism known as Apartheid then practiced by the regime in South Africa.

The President also remembered the efforts of some former Liberian diplomats including J. Rudolph Grimes and Ernest Eastman during this historic era and said that she was happy that Eastman was a part of her delegation.

She recalled the activities of liberation heroes like the first president of Namibia, Sam Njoma, who has now been replaced by the current President, Hifikepunye Pohamba.

Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf also used the occasion to express Liberia’s extension of invitation to the Namibian leader for a reciprocation of her official visit of that neighborly African state.

It can be recalled that Namibian peacekeepers arrived in the country some time in the latter stages of deployment of peacekeepers to the country. They were assigned mostly in Bomi and Cape Mount Counties.

The Namibian contingent was accordingly well appreciated and regarded in their peacekeeping by the host communities to the extent that they were later decorated by the former Special Representatives of the Secretary General, Jacques Paul Klein and his successor Allan Doss.

Meanwhile, the Liberian leader has been described as Mother Africa by the leader of the Namibian Parliament.

The key legislator of the Southern African nation said that besides only the female members of the government, especially the younger generations revere her as their heroine and illustrious role model as the first democratically elected president and head of state in the history of Africa. He said that they as menfolk were highly and equally sharing in this veneration of the Liberian leader as Mother Africa.

Hon. Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, the speaker of the joint parliament then thanked the  President for the visit to his province of Walvis Bay, where he said some Liberian seamen historically landed in Southwest Africa and settled there as place of life.

The Speaker credited the Liberian leader’s visit as one that showed prospects for enduring bilateral ties and one that was rightly timed for South Africa.