Armed Forces of Liberia
The Armed Forces of Liberia are the armed forces of the Republic of Liberia. Tracing its origins to a militia that was formed by the first black colonists in what is now Liberia, it was founded as the Liberian Frontier Force in 1908, and retitled in 1956. For almost all of its history, the AFL has received considerable materiel and training assistance from the United States. For most of the 1941–89 period, training was largely provided by U.S. advisers, though this assistance has not prevented the same generally low levels of effectiveness common to most of the armed forces in the developing world.
For most of the Cold War, the AFL saw little action, apart from a reinforced company group which was sent to ONUC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1960s. This changed with the advent of the First Liberian Civil War in 1989. The AFL became entangled in the conflict, which lasted from 1989 to 1996–97, and then the Second Liberian Civil War, which lasted from 1999 to 2003.
As of 2014, the AFL consists of an infantry brigade, an air wing, and the coast guard. For several years after the war, a Nigerian Army officer served as head of the armed forces.
11 February is Armed Forces Day, having been proclaimed in 2011.
Legal standing
The New National Defense Act of 2008 was approved on August 21, 2008. It repeals the National Defense Act of 1956, the Coast Guard Act of 1959, and the Liberian Navy Act of 1986. The duties and functions of the AFL are officially stated as follows:- Section 2.3: The primary mission of the AFL shall be to defend the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Liberia, including land, air and maritime territory, against external aggressions, insurgency, terrorism and encroachment. In addition thereto the AFL shall respond to natural disasters and engage in other civic works as may be required or directed.
- Section 2.3: The AFL shall also participate in international peacekeeping peace enforcement and other by the UN, the AU, ECOWAS, MRU, and/or all international institutions of which Liberia may be a member. All such activities shall be undertaken only upon authorization of the President of Liberia with the consent of the Legislature.
- Section 2.3: The AFL shall provide command, communications, logistical, medical, transportation, and humanitarian support to the civil authority in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, outbreak of disease, or epidemic. Such assistance shall be authorized by the President of Liberia.
- Section 2.3: The AFL shall assist civil authorities in search, rescue, and saving of life on land, sea, or air; such assistance shall be authorized by the President for immediate response by specialized search and rescue units in conjunction with other Government Ministries and Agencies.
- Section 2.3: The duties of the AFL in peacetime shall include support to the national law enforcement agencies when such support is requested and approved by the President. Such support shall include exchange of information, personnel training, and mobilization and deployment of security contingents. At no time during peacetime however, shall the AFL engage in law enforcement within Liberia, such function being the prerogative of the Liberia National Police and other law enforcement agencies. Notwithstanding, the Military Police of the AFL may, on request of the Ministry of Justice made to the Ministry of National Defense, and approved by the President of Liberia, provide assistance to these law enforcement agencies as determined by prevailing situations. The AFL shall intervene only as a last resort, when the threat exceeds the capability of the law enforcement agencies to respond.
- Section 2.5: Standards of Conduct for the Armed Forces of Liberia: Members of the AFL shall perform their duties at all times in accordance with democratic values and human rights. They shall perform their duties in a non-partisan manner, obey all lawful orders and commands from their superior officers in ways that command citizen respect and confidence and contribute towards the maintenance and promotion of the respect for the rule of law.
History
On February 6, 1908, the militia was established on a permanent basis as the 500-strong Liberian Frontier Force. The LFF's original mission was "to patrol the border in the Hinterland and to prevent disorders." The LFF was initially placed under the command of British Major MacKay Cadell, who was quickly replaced under threat of arms after he complained the Force was not being properly paid.
In 1912, the United States established military ties with Liberia by sending some five black American officers to help reorganize the force. The LFF in its early years was frequently recruited by inducing men from the interior forcibly. When dispatched to the interior to quell tribal unrest, units often lived off the areas that they were pacifying, as a form of communal punishment. The Force's officers were drawn from either the coastal aristocracy or tribal elites.
World Wars
Liberia joined the Allies in both World War I and World War II. The only troops dispatched overseas were a few individuals to France during World War I, and reported volunteers under U.S. command in World War II, but none served in combat in either war. A law of 20 February 1940 stipulated that the armed forces of the Republic "shall consist..of the Frontier Force, of twelve companies..the Militia,..and the Militia Reserve." During World War II, U.S. involvement in the country increased greatly. A steady supply of rubber from the world's largest rubber plantation, operated at Harbel by the Firestone Company since 1926 was vital. Thus the US government built roads, created an international airport, and transformed the capital by building a deep water port. Black United States Army troops of the 41st Engineer General Service Regiment arrived from June 1942 as members of Task Force 5889. During the war, funding provided by the United States allowed an increase in the Frontier Force's strength to around 1,500. The armed forces came to rely almost exclusively on American assistance in terms of training, with non-US training "tend to be brief and uninspired accomplished other than some desultory close-order drill."As a result of American arms sales, by the 1920s Liberian forces were equipped with the American Krag and Peabody rifles, as well as German Mausers.
U.S. Army Forces in Liberia commanded by Brigadier General Percy Lee Sadler also established an officer candidate school during the later part of World War II, using U.S. Army instructors selected from the troops in the country. The school conducted two courses and graduated nearly 300 new officers. USAFIL was finally inactivated on 24 February 1946. Just under twenty years later in 1964, the group still made up over 50% of the officer corps of the AFL.
1945–1980
From 1945 to 1964, the officers appointed were nearly all college graduates. From 1951, there was a US military mission based in Liberia to assist in training the AFL. A Reserve Officers' Training Corps was established in 1956 with units at the University of Liberia in Monrovia and the Booker Washington Institute in Kakata. By 1978 the program had been redesignated the Army Student Training Program and had a total of 46 students at the University of Liberia, the Booker Washington Institute, and three smaller institutions. However it was not until the late 1960s that the Tubman Military Academy was established in Todee District, upper Montserrado County, as an officer training facility.The LFF was renamed as the Armed Forces of Liberia under the Amended National Defense Law of 1956, though other sources say February 1962, which appears to have been the date the land force became the Liberian National Guard. Liebenow says that the LFF was 'restyled the National Guard in 1962.' From this period, Liberia's armed forces consisted of the Liberian National Guard, the Liberian Militia, whose ostensible structure is depicted below, and the Liberian Coast Guard. Until 1980, by law every able-bodied male between the ages of 16 and 45 years was to serve in the militia, though this stipulation was not enforced.
On January 26, 1957, the Liberian Legislature set aside Feb 11, 1957, as Armed Forces Day. Speaking in 2012, Jonathan B. B. Hart, the Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Liberia recalled that "..the Sierra Leoneans were sent to Liberia to take over the army by the British government because it had given Liberia a loan.".. "The Sierra Leonean commanders took orders from the British government and not the President of Liberia, then Arthur Barclay. When they began to misbehave, the army was turned over to a Liberian who refused. It was during that time that some soldiers took to the streets in demand of salary arrears, so soldiers getting in the streets.. in demand of salary is not new."
At the start of the 1960s, Liberia dispatched troops, including a movement control unit, to support ONUC during the Congo Crisis, and were airlifted into the Congo by the United States Air Force. The Liberian troops were initially in Équateur province. In 1961, during their first combat action in the country, 300 Liberian troops repelled an attack by 5,000 Baluba tribesmen and their European officers.
The National Guard was not a high status force: "It was a skeleton brigade of soldiers who were predominantly from the lower economic and social stratum of society. They were poorly paid, and had less than decent facilities for accommodation and care." Despite this, a Liberian company, designated the Reinforced Security Company, was contributed to the United Nations Operation in the Congo in the early 1960s. Six rotations were made. The 1964 US Army Area Handbook described the company's actions as "...After a poor start, the performance of the contingent improved steadily; the last company, which returned home in May 1963, had performed creditably and, by its conduct and appearance, gave the impression of being a well-trained and disciplined military organization."
Liebenow writes that the head of the National Guard was arrested, along with others, in February 1963, to forestall an alleged coup, and that Tubman had announced that following the labour strikes of 1966, a foreign power had attempted to bribe army officers to stage a coup. In addition, Albert T. White, Commanding Officer of the LNG, was 'rusticated' by Tubman to become the Superintendent of Grand Gedeh County in 1966, though he was later 'rehabilitated'.
In 1964 the US Army Area Handbook described the National Guard as 3,000 strong with a headquarters company, the Executive Mansion Guard Battalion in Monrovia, three infantry battalions and one engineer battalion. The three infantry battalions were the 1st Infantry Battalion, at Camp Schiefflin, situated on the airport road between Monrovia and Roberts International Airport, the 2nd Infantry Battalion, HQ at Barclay Training Center, Monrovia, and the 3rd Infantry Battalion, HQ at Baworobo, Maryland County.
By 1978, the LNG Brigade had been established and the brigade was described as comprising a Headquarters and Headquarters Company at the Barclay Training Center, Monrovia, the Executive Mansion Guard Battalion on Capitol Hill, Monrovia, the Engineer Battalion and the First Field Artillery Battalion two tactical combat battalions and three non-tactical battalions, tasked with providing guard services to government officials, tax collection, and 'other non-military duties'.
The Third Infantry Battalion covered Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount, and Grand Bassa counties from BTC. The Fourth Infantry Battalion covered Grand Gedeh, Sinoe and Maryland counties from Camp Whisnant, Zwedru. The Fifth Infantry Battalion was at Gbarnga.
Other field units of the brigade were the Armoured Unit, at Camp Ram Rod, Paynesward City, Monrovia, and the Bella Yella Special Detachment, Camp Bella Yella, Lofa. Bella Yella was of course the location of the feared Bella Yella prison. The Service Support Battalion was located at BTC, and comprised the Medical Company, the Brigade Band, the Brigade Special Unit and the Military Police Unit. Also at BTC was the Logistical Command, consisting of a depot, arsenal, the AFL Quartermaster Corps, and the AFL Transportation Company. Strength was reported to be 4,822 in 1978.
While militia service was compulsory by law for all eligible males, the law was only enforced in a lax manner. From the mid-1960s, and in its later years, members of the militia met only quarterly for sparsely attended drill practice. Estimates of men enrolled over the years vary. The 1964 US Army Area Handbook said that "some 20,000 men are estimated to be enrolled." The IISS estimated militia numbers at 5,000 in 1967 and 6,000 in 1970.
By the early 1970s the militia reported a strength of some 4,000 poorly trained and ill-equipped men. The 1978 Annual Report of the Liberian Ministry of National Defense said that "The various militia regiments, in accordance with the law, held quarterly parades....Furthermore, the entire Regiments were out in full strength during burial occasions." By the time it was disbanded in 1980, the militia was considered to be completely ineffective as a military force.
The armed forces' third arm, the Liberian National Coast Guard, was established in 1959. Throughout the Tubman period the coastguard was little more than a few sometimes unserviceable patrol craft crewed by ill-trained personnel, though its training improved in the 1980s to the point where it was considered the best trained of the armed services.
From 1952 onwards, Chiefs of Staff of the AFL included Major General Alexander Harper, Lieutenant General Abraham Jackson, Albert T. White, Lieutenant General George T. Washington, Lieutenant General Henry Johnson, Lieutenant General Franklin Smith, and Lieutenant General Henry Dubar.
When William Tolbert replaced the long-serving William Tubman as president in 1971, he retired more than 400 aging soldiers. Sawyer comments that "retired soldiers were replaced by young recruits from urban areas, many of whom were then poorly trained at the Tubman Military Academy. This development dramatically changed the character of the military in Liberia." Amos Sawyer also comments that "recruitment of such individuals for the military was part of Tolbert's efforts to replace aging, illiterate soldiers with younger, literate men who were capable of absorbing technical and professional training."