An Executive Mansion dispatch from Washington says, Mrs. Bush was speaking Thursday night at a Gala Dinner to honor the Liberian leader. The U.S. first lady lauded President Johnson Sirleaf for her immense courage and determination to provide education to Liberians by introducing measures that would address the educational needs of the country. The United States and its people, Mrs. Bush said, stand with the people of Liberia and President Sirleaf as she rebuilds the country. 

The first lady, also an educator, announced that Liberia is one of six fast track African countries that will benefit from a financial package of $425-million being provided by the United States government to train teachers and improve literacy. The goal of the Basic Education  Initiative, Mrs. Bush said, is to reach four million children over the next five years and to support countries that make education a priority.

Mrs. Bush, who also commended President Sirleaf’s efforts to rebuild the health infrastructure of the country, said the United States is partnering with Liberia to support health clinics and to provide preventive care in rural communities. Liberia, the first lady disclosed, will receive one million dollars next year for the Emergency Plan for AIDS relief, a $1.2 billion dollar program, intended to reduce malaria related deaths to over half in 15 African countries in five years. 

news of unrests and conflicts on the continent. The President said she was pleased to address the conference, because the world sometimes misses the fact that development in Africa is taking place at an accelerated rate. African countries, the Liberian leader maintained, are adopting sound economic policies which have produced acceptable economic performance that has brought much hope for which Africa and its people should be proud. 

According to a dispatch from Oslo, quoting Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio, the President is Sunday evening meeting with Heads of International non-governmental organizations, ahead of a meeting on Monday morning with Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg.  The Liberian President will also on Monday be received in audience by His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Haakon at the Royal Palace in Oslo, ahead of discussions with the President of the Norwegian Parliament, Mr. Thorbjorn Jagland, who is also speaker of Parliament. 

The Liberian leader is this evening guest of honor at a dinner hosted by Norway’s Minister for International Development, Mr. Erik Solheim. 

President Johnson Sirleaf departs Oslo late Monday afternoon for Belgium where she will deliver the keynote address at the 4^th Diamond Conference taking place in Antwerp from October15-16.

The two-day Antwerp conference is focusing on the shift of power in the diamond industry and the increasing demand by producer countries that diamonds be sorted and processed in countries where they are mined. The countries are also calling for the adoption of legislations that will make the phenomenon a statutory obligation. 

Other speakers at the conference include the chairman of the Kimberley process, Karel Kovanda; the Deputy Prime Minister of Angola, Aguinaldo Jaime; the President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, Ernest Blom; a humanitarian, social activist and pop star, Bob Geldof (He organized the live concert in 1985 to alleviate a famine in Ethiopia), as well as South Africa’s Deputy President, Madam Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore; Botswana’s President Festus Mogae and South African President Thabo Mbeki, have all been invited to the conference as guest speakers.