MONROVIA, Sept 11 – Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, whose country recently began drilling for oil, left Sunday for a two-day visit to Angola, one of Africa’s top producers, a high ranking official told AFP.
The 72-year-old leader will on Monday meet her Angolan counterpart Jose Eduardo dos Santos, before visiting Sonils, the logistics service of the Angolan oil company Sonangol, the Angolan state news agency confirmed.
Sirleaf in August launched the start of offshore oil exploration in the west African nation as several oil companies began drilling in a region which has shown rich oil finds in recent years, notably in Ghana.
“Energy is one of my top priorities,” Sirleaf declared recently, while announcing an oil exploration agreement with US energy giant Chevron.
Angola vies with Nigeria as Africa’s top oil producer, and Sonangol has reached out to countries such as Ghana to assist with its budding oil industry.
According to a source at the Liberian presidency, the president stopped over in Abuja on her way to Angola for a mini-summit of west African leaders on the security situtation in the region, focusing on Liberia’s border with Ivory Coast.
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