U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Liberia to show support
for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's only female head of state.
Clinton
arrived in a pouring rain Thursday but was greeted by hundreds of
Liberians who waved flags and held banners saluting the top U.S.
diplomat.
Clinton immediately went into talks with Mrs. Sirleaf. Later, she will address Liberia's national assembly.
President
Sirleaf has received strong U.S. support since being elected in 2005.
But Liberia's Truth and Reconcilation has recommended that she be
banned from political activity because of her alleged involvement in
the country's civil wars.
Mrs. Sirleaf has admitted that she
once gave money to former President Charles Taylor, who is now on trial
in The Hague for alleged war crimes.
But she has denied that she was ever a member of his movement.
Mr.
Taylor ignited Liberia's first civil war with his rebellion against
President Samuel Doe in 1989. The war crimes accusations against him
stem from his later support of rebels in Sierra Leone during that
country's civil war.
This is the sixth of seven stops on
Clinton's 11-day tour of Africa. She will spend less than 24 hours in
Liberia before heading to the island of Cape Verde and then returning
to Washington.
On Wednesday, Clinton was in Nigeria, where she
urged President Umaru Yar'Adua to fight corruption and implement broad
political reforms.
Earlier stops on Clinton's trip were Kenya, South Africa, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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