Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf comes to Rhode Island to thank her fellow countrymen and her plans for the future of their country.

04:22 PM EST on Monday, March 20, 2006

BY KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- In shimmering African finery, several thousand people chanted and sang and drummed away the bone-chilling hours until Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf stepped outside City Hall yesterday on what many called a history-making day.

Looking out over the crowd that stood behind the yellow barricades at Kennedy Plaza, Liberia's 23rd president acknowledged an electrifying tribute from her fellow countrymen and women in exile. But before Johnson-Sirleaf could say a word, the crowd burst into the Liberian national anthem:

"All hail, Liberia hail -- this glorious land of liberty shall long be ours . . ."

"It's cold!" said Johnson-Sirleaf, a dignified woman in an ivory headdress and black-stitched traditional garment. "But the welcome is warm . . . that you stayed out there in this cold and waited all this time, we thank you."

Johnson-Sirleaf's visit to Rhode Island -- home to an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Liberian people -- was hosted by Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, who last October served as an election observer during Liberia's first free and fair elections after more than a decade of civil war. Johnson-Sirleaf's victory made her the first woman president of an African nation.

Chafee, who said he remained struck by seeing, first-hand, "the hardships and horrors visited upon Liberia," extended his invitation after learning that Johnson-Sirleaf would be attending her grandchild's christening in Connecticut.

Her trip commenced with an address to a joint session of Congress attended by some of Rhode Island's Liberian leaders; it ends tomorrow with a visit to President Bush.

"I bring you greetings from your fellow Liberians at home!!" she said during her speech outside City Hall, a cadenced speech that built in momentum.

"Yes!" the crowd yelled.

"As they reach out through me to you to say a big thank-you. Thank you for supporting them. Thank you for what you've done to contribute to the processes of peace!!

"Yes!"

"Liberians are a proud people."

"Yes!"

"In the beginning, we thought we had done all the things a great nation does. But we made some bad mistakes."

"Yes!"

"And those bad mistakes set us back. They threw you into exile. Some of you had to run. ("Yes!") Some of you faced guns. ("Yes!") Some of you had to starve. And so you sought refuge in this country, and we thank all of those who granted you that refuge.

"But we are thankful to God, through all the difficulties, through all the death and destruction, he has stood by the Liberian people," she said.

Johnson-Sirleaf said that God had provided a chance "to start anew. An opportunity to rebuild our nation. An opportunity to once again reach across the ocean, people to people, Liberian to Liberian, and seize back the future. . . ."

She added, "Each and every one of you has a role. Each and every one of you has a contribution to make" to help Liberia achieve a vision that includes "peace, reconciliation, and national credibility."

Journal photo / Bob Thayer

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is surrounded by well-wishers and local politicans yesterday as she meets with reporters in the Providence City Hall office of Mayor David N. Cicilline.

DIGNITARIES AND ELECTED officials at the reception included the Rhode Island congressional delegation -- Chafee, Sen. Jack Reed and Represenatives Patrick Kennedy and James R. Langevin; Governor Carcieri; Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty; Abdula K. Dunbar, deputy chief of mission for the Liberian Embassy in Washington; Arthur Watson, president of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas; Mator M.F. Kpangbai, president of the Liberian Community Association of Rhode Island; and Brown University President Ruth Simmons.

Even normally somber Secret Service agents grinned when Kennedy led the crowd in a traditional chant.

"Your-yor!!" Kennedy yelled. "Bartee-oh-Bartee!!!"

"Bartee!!" the crowd yelled back. Local Liberian leaders described it as a chant used by villagers to generate enthusiasm before a tribal chief speaks.

Chafee told Johnson-Sirleaf, "You have the hardest-working people in Congress. Whether it is TPS [temporary protective status], legal permanent residency or increased foreign aid, this delegation is there for you."

Chafee called Johnson-Sirleaf "a courageous leader determined to uphold the motto of Liberia -- 'The love of liberty brought us here.' " He called her a woman "of remarkable character and achievement who has faced many odds."

Kpangbai called Johnson-Sirleaf's visit to Rhode Island a clear manifest "to reach out to the people of Liberia, wherever they are, to help address the socio-economic emancipation of the Liberian people."

Reed told the crowd about Johnson-Sirleaf's address to the joint session of Congress in Washington last week. He'd seen many such addresses "but none so galvanizing."

Noting the enormous rebuilding challenge that lies ahead for Liberia, whose capital city remains without electricity or running water, whose roads and bridges are blasted, and whose government is trying to regain sound footing after years of corruption, Reed said: "I am convinced there is one woman who can do this, and she is here today."

THE CROWD outside City Hall began gathering in late morning, hours before Johnson-Sirleaf's motorcade arrived at 1 p.m.

"I thank God for her," said Catherine Flemmings, who came to Rhode Island from Liberia in 1964. "What I've heard of her, she is the gift. She was certainly chosen."

Milen King, a member of the board of the Liberian Community Association of Rhode Island, said, "I'm elated. We believe this is history in the making," a step toward helping Liberia "be what it used to be."

Danlette Norris, like many women in the crowd, wore a headdress, a traditional top known as a "bubba" (pronounced "boo-bah"), a skirt or "lappa," and a gold necklace in the shape of Liberia's seal.

Inside City Hall, Mayor David N. Cicilline greeted Johnson-Sirleaf with a traditional St. Joseph's Day zeppole. The president gave a thumbs-up.

Johnson-Sirleaf thanked members of Congress "for hosting Liberians in all these difficult times" and said she intended to ask President Bush for more such help -- including granting permanent status to Liberians who live here in exile.

She also noted that her constituency includes "the women, and really the grass-roots women," who helped elect her in Liberia, as well as the Liberian women in the diaspora who were able to help from abroad.

Simmons noted that "there are so many millions of women around the world" who have been inspired by Johnson-Sirleaf's success. That was echoed by Rep. Grace Diaz, D-Providence, who told Johnson-Sirleaf, "You bring hope for all women."

During interviews with the media, Johnson-Sirleaf outlined plans for the $50 million in emergency assistance granted by Congress last week.

She said $30 million will be used to rebuild infrastructure, including electricity in the capital city. And $10 million will go toward training and bolstering security in the country, and toward counseling and education for "war-affected youth," including child soldiers conscripted during the civil war.

The Liberian president ended her visit with a receiving line inside City Hall that lasted more than a half-hour.

"Oh, it was exciting," said Johnetta Minor, a former educator in Liberia who now lives in Providence.

"It gives the assurance that she's able not just to speak" to crowds, "but in a one-on-one basis."

kziner@projo.com / (401) 277-7375