Nairobi/Monrovia  - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday was due to meet Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in a show of support for Africa's only female leader.

Clinton has emphasized female empowerment during her seven-nation trip around Africa - now on its penultimate leg. She has visited rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo and called for the efforts of African women to be recognized.

Sirleaf is facing problems in Liberia, where the West African nation's Truth and Reconciliation Commission recently recommended she be banned from politics for her involvement in the country's two civil wars between 1989 and 2003.

Nonetheless, Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Clinton wanted to show her backing for the leader of a nation founded 150 years ago by freed American slaves.

"The secretary wants to use this visit to ... demonstrate US support for the democratic progress that has occurred in Liberia," Carson said.

Sirleaf, who in 2005 beat former AC Milan football player George Weah to become president, has admitted that she backed the rebellion of former warlord Charles Taylor.

Taylor is currently on trial in The Hague on charges of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and other war crimes.

Sirleaf said that she backed Taylor because she believed his battle against military ruler Samuel Doe in the late 1980s was necessary. However, she said she regretted supporting him.

Taylor's rebellion led to the 1990 torture and execution of Doe, sparking over a decade of civil strife from which Liberia is still struggling to recover.

Clinton spent Wednesday in Nigeria, Africa's most-populous nation and one of its largest oil producers, where she called for better governance, an end to corruption and more tolerance between Muslims and Christians.

The top US diplomat is touring Africa to highlight the Obama administration's commitment to the continent, build trade links and promote better governance.

After Liberia, Clinton is expected to stop briefly in Cape Verde before returning to Washington on Friday.

Her trip has also taken in Kenya, South Africa, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. (dpa)