DAKAR: As Liberia's president visits the US Senate on Thursday to thank Americans for their pivotal role in the Ebola recovery, she will reflect on a sometimes fractious relationship spanning two centuries.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is due to address senators before meeting US President Barack Obama Friday to discuss the recovery from an outbreak which has claimed 9,500 lives.
Of the West African nations afflicted by the disease, Liberia -- where more 4,000 people have died -- is seen as the most advanced in curbing the spread of Ebola, largely thanks to unprecedented US support.
Around $2.5 billion has been allocated by the White House to help Liberia fight and recover from Ebola, while Obama has played a supportive role in securing IMF and World Bank cash.
Some 2,800 US troops -- the largest-ever US deployment to the region -- are being brought home after building clinics, training nurses and working around the clock to beat back the epidemic.
Analysts initially voiced concerns over how Liberians, savaged by 14 years of ruinous civil war, would react to a new foreign armed presence and questioned US motives for its sudden philanthropy.
US engagement in Liberia began in the 1820s when the Congress- and slaveholder-funded American Colonization Society began sending freed slaves to its shores.
Thousands of "Americo-Liberian" settlers followed, declaring themselves independent in 1847 and setting up a government to rule over a native African majority that it gave no right to vote.
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