United States
U.S. relations with Liberia date back to 1819 when the US Congress appropriated $100,000 for the establishment of Liberia. After official US recognition of Liberia in 1862, the two nations shared very close ties until strains in the 1970s due to Liberia's establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries.
During the 1980s, the United States forged especially close ties with Liberia as part of a Cold War effort to suppress socialist and Marxist movements in Africa. Liberia received between $500 million and $1.3 billion dollars during the 1980s from the United States government.
The rise of Charles Taylor's government, the Liberian Civil War, regional instability and human rights abuses interrupted the previously close relations between Liberia and the United States. The United States cut direct financial and military aid to the Liberian government, withdrew Peace Corps operations, imposed a travel ban on senior Liberian Government officials, and frequently criticized Charles Taylor's government. Due to intense pressure from the international community and the United States, Charles Taylor resigned his office on August 11, 2003.
The resignation and exile of Charles Taylor in 2003 brought changes in diplomatic ties between the United States and Liberia. The United States proposed a UN Security Council draft resolution to authorize the deployment of a multi-national stabilization force, and 200 marines as well as warships were sent to Monrovia's airport to support the peace-keeping effort. The United States committed $1.16 billion to Liberia between 2004 and 2006. In 2009, A 17.5 million dollar contract to support elections was offered to Liberia with International Foundation for Electoral Systems as the conduit. This money is meant to support the Presidential election of 2011 and the General Election of 2014.
Read more about this topic: Foreign Relations Of Liberia
Famous quotes related to united states:
“Falling in love with a United States Senator is a splendid ordeal. One is nestled snugly into the bosom of power but also placed squarely in the hazardous path of exposure.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name.... We must be impartial in thought as well as in action ... a nation that neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed in her own counsels and which keeps herself fit and free to do what is honest and disinterested and truly serviceable for the peace of the world.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“As a Tax-Paying Citizen of the United States I am entitled to a voice in Governmental affairs.... Having paid this unlawful Tax under written Protest for forty years, I am entitled to receive from the Treasury of ‘Uncle Sam’ the full amount of both Principal and Interest.”
—Susan Pecker Fowler (1823–1911)