DAKAR, Senegal - The Peace Corps will return to war-ravaged Liberia on Sunday for the first time since fighting erupted nearly two decades ago, its goal to help rebuild the West African nation's shattered education system.
Liberia, founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century, has struggled to turn itself around since the brutal war ended in 2003 and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took office two years later. The return of the Peace Corps, which pulled out shortly after rebels invaded the country in late 1989, is a sign of confidence in Sirleaf, a Harvard-edcuated economist and Africa's first elected female head of state.
"Sirleaf has done a tremendous job of bringing this country back from chaos and we want to be part of moving her country forward as rapidly as possible," Peace Corps director Ronald A. Tschetter told The Associated Press in an interview from Washington, D.C. "This is a huge step for us to go back."
Liberia's back-to-back wars, which lasted from 1989 to 2003, sparked vicious factional fighting that killed an estimated 250,000 and displaced millions. Charles Taylor, who launched the 1989 invasion, is now jailed in The Hague facing war crimes charges.
Tschetter said Sirleaf had been calling for the Peace Corps to return and urged it to focus on what she saw as the most crucial need: education.
Liberia, founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century, has struggled to turn itself around since the brutal war ended in 2003 and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took office two years later. The return of the Peace Corps, which pulled out shortly after rebels invaded the country in late 1989, is a sign of confidence in Sirleaf, a Harvard-edcuated economist and Africa's first elected female head of state.
"Sirleaf has done a tremendous job of bringing this country back from chaos and we want to be part of moving her country forward as rapidly as possible," Peace Corps director Ronald A. Tschetter told The Associated Press in an interview from Washington, D.C. "This is a huge step for us to go back."
Liberia's back-to-back wars, which lasted from 1989 to 2003, sparked vicious factional fighting that killed an estimated 250,000 and displaced millions. Charles Taylor, who launched the 1989 invasion, is now jailed in The Hague facing war crimes charges.
Tschetter said Sirleaf had been calling for the Peace Corps to return and urged it to focus on what she saw as the most crucial need: education.
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