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Monrovia - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf travels on Monday to the United States for a trip aimed at strengthening historic ties and attracting American investment to her war-battered nation, officials said.
Information Minister Johnny McClain said on Sunday that Sirleaf would meet US lawmakers. She is expected to meet US President George Bush on March 21, said Charles Nelson, a Sirleaf spokesperson.
The trip will be her first to the United States since taking office in January as Africa's first elected female president.
"President Sirleaf wants to attract investors - (it is) one of the things she wants to achieve within the first 150 days" of her presidency, Nelson said.
Liberia was founded by freed American slaves in 1847. The country descended into civil war in 1989 after warlord Charles Taylor led a rebel force that invaded from neighboring Ivory Coast.
Taylor was elected president in 1997 during a lull in fighting, but relations between Liberia and the United States reached an all-time low under his rule.
Taylor was accused of fueling other wars in West Africa, in particular supporting fighters in neighboring Sierra Leone's own civil war. He was forced from power in 2003 as rebels advanced on the capital and has lived in exile in Nigeria since.
Taylor is wanted by a United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, and US officials have repeatedly called on Nigeria to hand Taylor over to the court. - Sapa-AP
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