President Bio, right, with President Boakai

Abubakar Hashim

Today’s visit by President Julius Maada Bio to Liberia, though officially tagged “ Sustaining Peace and Security through Stakeholder Engagements- the role of the Armed Forces”, goes slightly beyond these trappings. It is crucially significant for 3 strategic reasons:

1. The two Presidents have a strong brotherly relationship that spans decades old. President Boakai, in his book he presented to TheNEWS after an exclusive interview on August 17, 2024, narrated his childhood days and schooling in Kenema, Eastern Sierra Leone, a predominantly Mende speaking district. President Bio is a Mende from the Southern District of Bonthe.

2. ⁠The two countries, apart from sharing open borders, have similar post -war experiences and similar strategic military interplay in ending the two wars, through Nigeria-led ECOMOG.

3. ⁠President Bio is today’s Special Guest and Keynote Speaker principally for his sterling role in the two operations. He was also principal participant in stemming the Liberian war through ECOMOG operations.

President Bio welcoming President Boakai on his last 3 day state visit to Freetown, recently, where President Boakai extended an official visit to President Bio as Special Guest of Honour at Liberia’s 68 Armed Forces event today

It was from Liberia, upon his return to Sierra Leone, that Captain Valentine Strasser, staged a military coup in 1992. Bio later became Military Head of State, but quickly handed over power to a democratically elected President, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in 1996.

President Bio, as Special Guest Speaker, at today’s event, justifies his epical and symbolic role in these strategic engagements in the two countries, coupled with his strong personal relationship with President Boakai, whom he calls his “ big brother “.

President Boakai showered praises to President Bio during an interview with TheNEWS Magazine, stating that among all Presidents in Africa, Bio is the one that they talk on daily basis on the phone.

*Abubakar Hashim is the West Africa Bureau Chief of TheNEWS Magazine published in Nigeria. He is based in Sierra Leone