(dpa) - US President George W Bush was set to wrap up his Africa tour Thursday in Liberia, a land colonized by freed American slaves in the 19th century, where he is likely to get a warm welcome and dish out aid money to the nation emerging from a civil war.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is Africa's first elected female leader and has been lauded for her anti-corruption tactics and her desire to shape up the nation's economy.
But the tiny West African country still remains in tatters from its civil war, which ended in 2003, with most of its citizens remaining poor and unemployed.
Bush's five-nation Africa tour has been chided for avoiding the continent's troubled hotpots like Sudan, Congo and Kenya, which is locked in a violent political crisis.
Instead, he has visited relatively stable nations that have welcomed him with cheering crowds and open arms, where he pledged millions of dollars in aid.