Armed Forces of Liberia

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The Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) is the military of Liberia. It includes the Liberian Army, Liberian Air Force, and Liberian Navy.

History

The military began as the Liberian Frontier Force (LFF), which was formed in 1908. It became known as the Armed Forces of Liberia and in 1984 included the Liberian National Guard Brigade and related units (6300 men), and the Liberian National Coast Guard (about 450 men). The important LNG Brigade was based at the Barclay Training Center (BTC) in Monrovia, and was composed of six infantry battalions, a military engineer battalion, a field artillery battalion, and a support battalion. The AFL was essentially the personal army of President Samuel Doe, who ruled as an autocrat during his term.

Immediately before the Liberian Civil War (1989-2003), the AFL consisted of about 6000 soldiers. After the war, United Nations peacekeepers in Liberia disarmed and demobilized 103,000 people who claimed to have fought for former president Charles Taylor or the two rebel groups, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) or the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).

In 2005, the United States provided funding for DynCorp International, a private military contractor, to train a new 4000-man Liberian Army. The new Liberian police force is due to reach its full strength of 3500 officers in 2006. Once the Liberian Army is operational, UNMIL will start winding down the strength of its 15,000 strong peacekeeping force.

The CIA World Factbook reported that Liberia had made military expenditures of $1.5 million, 0.2 percent of the GDP. The 2005 estimate for manpower available for military service (males age 18-49) was 659,795, while the estimated manpower fit for military service was 360,373.

References

This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.

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