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Editorial

Letter from Washington, DC

In a letter to President George Manneh Weah over the weekend, President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America personally reaffirmed the U.S.’s commitment to longstanding relationship with Liberia and pledged his government’s continuous support to peace and prosperity here.


“The United States is deeply committed to our longstanding relationship with Liberia. We will continue to support Liberia’s historic democratic transition and to support peace and prosperity in Liberia”, President Trump writes in his letter to President Weah.

We believe the letter from Washington, which is the first official communication from the U.S. President to his Liberian counterpart since President Weah’s election and subsequent inauguration as 24th President of the Republic of Liberia, clears all doubts and speculations here about America’s position on not only the country after a peaceful transfer of power from one democratically elected president to another, but the new Coalition-led government headed by the ex-soccer icon.

The U.S. President expressed his willingness to work with the new Liberian administration in further fostering the existing ties between both countries and peoples.
Liberians anxiously look forward to a day when President Weah would be invited to the White House, official home of the American Presidency to sit with President Donald Trump and articulate Liberia’s socio-economic problems. This has been a tradition for all former Liberian Presidents, including Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf except jailed former President Charles Ghankay Taylor, who did not visit the United States during his entire tenure in office due to strained ties with Washington.

We hope that when such time comes, as it will do, President Weah would cease the opportunity not only to outline the country’s problems, but to appeal to Trump for a reconsideration of plans to deport thousands of undocumented Liberians who have been benefiting Temporary Protective Status or TPS in America as a result of the Liberian Civil War.

Relations between Liberia and America is traced to the 1800s, specifically, 1819 when the U.S. Congress approved a sum of US$100,000 for the establishment of a place in Africa for free men of color or ex-slaves by the American Colonization Society (ACS).

But the U.S. Government did not recognize this place as a sovereign nation until 15 years later after Great Britain and other European nations had done so.Notwithstanding, both countries share longstanding historical, cultural, bilateral, economic and security ties. Besides, the Liberian capital, Monrovia, is named in honor of America’s 5th President, James Monroe. Liberia’s first President, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, was a native of the U.S. State of Virginia.

President Weah should see this letter from President Trump as an official reaffirmation of these ties and therefore, must do everything necessary to build on gains made by the two countries in maintaining the common bond that has subsisted in many centuries.

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