President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on Monday appealed to the international community not to slow assistance to her country just as it is showing progress in recovering from civil war. 

Her appeal came a day before a donor conference in Washington to review her first year in power and to push for a solution to Liberia's $3.7 billion foreign debt owed to international institutions and creditors. 

"Although we have made much progress our recovery is still fragile and if we do not redouble our efforts, our ultimate success is not yet assured," said Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first woman head of state. 

           
"Now that we have been in government for one year, now that we are beginning to put our systems in place, now is the time to accelerate efforts to ensure that peace, security and stability is achieved," she said. [Reuters News/Factiva]

           
In two public appearances Monday, Johnson-Sirleaf said her country has been moving ahead since she took office as Liberia's elected leader a year ago. …  A World Bank statement said many of 20 or so countries planning to attend the conference contributed to the $500 million in pledges at a donors conference for Liberia three years ago. ‘With those emergency funds running out, and hundreds of millions still needed to rebuild the country, the forum seeks to secure international approval and support for the country's reconstruction and development strategy, and explore new funding possibilities,’ the statement said. …” [The Associated Press/Factiva]

           
Reuters reports that “Johnson-Sirleaf on Monday appealed to the international community not to slow assistance to her country just as it is showing progress in recovering from civil war. … [S]he said that the conference was a critical next step in Liberia's recovery and she hoped to obtain a clear endorsement of her government's achievements so far and secure financial and political support for the future. … Johnson-Sirleaf said her government's strategy for rebuilding was based on enhancing peace and security, reviving the economy, strengthening governance and the rule of law, and rehabilitating infrastructure and delivering basic services.  

           
Listing the achievements over the past year, she said recruitment and training had started for a new security force; 75,000 ex-combatants had been placed into re-integration programs and more than 100,000 refugees had been returned home. Also, the government had balanced the budget in just four months, increased revenue by 48 percent; passed a new forestry law to strengthen oversight of the sector; removed 17,000 ghost employees from the government's payroll and resumed water and boosted schools attendance by offering free primary education. …” [Reuters/Factiva]  

           
AFP writes that “… The debt burden comes to 3,000 percent of Liberia's export earnings, which is ‘clearly non-sustainable,’ Johnson-Sirleaf said, calling in particular for relief from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and African Development Bank. ‘For us it means until the debt is settled, we cannot access significant sources of funding.’ Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female president, was to take her message to the White House on Wednesday in a meeting with US President George W. Bush. … ‘The other message to our partners is we need to shorten that road between commitment and cash,’ the president added, complaining of delays to the delivery of promised aid from donors. …

           
Meanwhile ordinary Liberians ‘don't care about the interim poverty reduction strategy which will be discussed in here’ at the donors' conference, Johnson-Sirleaf said. ‘All they know is they want a job to be able to feed their family, they want to be able to send their children to school, they want to be able to take their products to market,’ she said. ‘So our message to the partners is yes, we understand all these requirements, we know they have to be met, but can we find a way to short-circuit it?’ Wolfowitz said he understood ‘the president's impatience on this issue.’ ‘We need to do this in a framework of not just the World Bank doing it on its own, but acting in a framework with the IMF and the African Development Bank,’ he said. ‘And it's going to require some fresh money from the donors.’” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

           
The Financial Times notes that “… Johnson-Sirleaf's government faces huge challenges… Some Liberian officials say that if external intervention to boost the government's capacity to govern is delayed, its institutions could fall prey to corrupt officials with wartime connections who are likely to drain state resources for personal gain. Luigi Giovin[e], the World Bank's country manager, says Liberia's overall financial requirement is measured in the ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ per year…

            Donors have already put in place some innovative aid programs, including a scheme to top up the salaries of qualified government ministers. Some countries are also expected to pledge additional cash this week. The most important discussions, however, are likely to be between the big donors on how to break the debt relief deadlock. At present, Liberia - which has total debts outstanding of $3.7 billion - owes the World Bank $466 million and the IMF $781 million in overdue repayments and interest. …” [The Financial Times (UK)]

           
All Africa adds that “… The finale of Sirleaf's Washington visit comes Thursday, when she addresses a private sector forum organized by the Corporate Council on Africa and Liberia's National Investment Commission. The day-long event has attracted more than 350 participants, far exceeding organizers' expectations and forcing the closing of registration more than a week early. The agenda includes workshops on oil exploration, mining, infrastructure, construction and housing, power and transportation. …”