When Tony Blair was prime minister of Britain we often heard of the special relationship between his country and the US. President Bush also spoke of that special relationship. The term "special relationship" was first used by Winston Churchill in 1946 in his famous Iron Curtain speech at Fulton, Missouri. Churchill was describing Anglo-American ties that had developed during World War II. The term has also been used to describe the ties between the United States and Liberia, the West African country which has been independent since 1847.

Both Liberia and the United States acknowledge the special relationship. This relationship, however, was only partially forged by World War II when Liberia became strategically important in the prosecution of the war in the North African theatre. Liberia's importance to the Allied cause became evident early o'clock after Malaysia and Singapore fell to the Japanese. Liberia became a primary source of latex rubber for the allies. This was not the sole way that Liberia became vital in the Allied cause. A South American- Liberian air corridor was opened up to facilitate the transport of soldiers and supplies across the Atlantic, thus avoiding German U-boats which were lurking in the North Atlantic.

The special relationship between the oldest independent nation in Africa and the United States goes back even further than World War II. It began way back in 1822 when American slaves returned to settle in Africa. Quakers and slaveholders formed the African Colonisation Society and collaborated in sending the slaves back to Africa. The Quakers hoped that the slaves would have a better chance to live free in Africa, while the slaveholders wanted to avoid bloody slave rebellions as had happened in Haiti.

Returning Africans, now called Americo-Liberians, wished to model the new nation along the lines of the United States, hence the name Liberia, which means the Land of the Free. Other American symbols followed. The Liberian flag resembles the American flag, there is a pledge of allegiance, and Liberia's official language is English. Liberia's capital, Monrovia, was named after former US president, James Monroe who sent aid to free the slaves.

But tensions arose immediately between the Americo-Liberians and the indigenous Africans. The tensions stemmed from religious differences, social customs, and cultural standards rooted in the ante bellum American South on the part of Americo- Liberians. Naturally politics exacerbated the situation when Americo-Liberians over the years grabbed the lion's share of governmental posts, including the presidency.

Today, Liberia is a despoiled country, the result of civil wars that have taken a heavy toll on the nation's development.

Interestingly, it was an individual of purported Trinidad roots who precipitated the first civil war and was involved in the second. The father of Charles Taylor, a warlord who became president of Liberia, lived at Point Fortin and later went to Africa and threw in his lot with the Americo-Liberians. Taylor, the former president, who is now facing trial before a UN-backed war crimes tribunal, is the father of Charles "Chuckie'' Taylor who spent time in Trinidad before he was arrested in Miami after attempting to enter the United States on a forged passport.

Liberia's civil wars have left its economy in shambles and the US Congress has appropriated $840 million to help in the country's reconstruction. Liberia's first woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Africa's first, has described the US role in helping Liberia as "critical." Consequently, she has asked the United States for debt relief. US assistance may certainly be forthcoming in that respect. After all, that's what special relationships are all about. It will be difficult for the US to forget Liberia's cooperation during World War 11, including declaring war against Germany and the Axis powers at its behest.