By Our Staff Writer
Soldiers of the restructured Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) have hailed for their high level of professionalism being demonstrated both at home and in foreign peacekeeping missions abroad.
A team of military training experts from Britain and France, who have been preparing the AFL Platoon preparing to replace the Liberian soldiers currently serving in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (MANUSMA), are said to be very impressed with the performance of the Liberian soldiers.
The Liberian troops operating in northern Mali are to be replaced in September by the current batch of troops who have been undergoing preparatory training for some time now at the Camp Sande Ware military barracks in Careysburg outside Monrovia.
Since Liberian military Platoons have been gallantly serving in the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali from 2013, there has been an annual rotation of soldiers.
Their knowledge and skills of the next Platoons have been upgraded in handling Improvised Explosive Devise (IEDs) and roadside bombs, mainly used by Islamist militants in northern Mali.
Speaking during at a program marking the end of the training at the Camp Ware Barracks on Wednesday, August 8, 2019, British Ambassador to Liberia, Mr. David Belgrove commending the Liberian Armed Forces for the level of improvement it has made in recent years.
He and the French envoy promised to continue their support for enhancing the performance of the AFL and support its participation in the UN mission in Mali, which is intended to restore peace and security.
AFL Chief of Staff, Maj. General Prince C. Johnson told Journalists that the Liberian Armed Forces is committed to upholding the highest professional standards and would continue to be a “force for good”.
The Liberian government and the United Nations last month (July 2019) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), formally acknowledging and declaring Liberia as an Official United Nations Peacekeeping Contributing Country, the Liberia’s permanent mission at the UN says.
The Memorandum of Understanding establishes administrative, logistics, and financial terms and conditions to govern the contribution of personnel, equipment and services provided by the Government of Liberia in support of the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA); and specifies United Nations Standard of Conduct for personnel provided by the Armed Forces of Liberia.
In another development, an officer of the AF, Col. Cephus Gboe was recently appointed head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Military Observer Team in Mali, “Operations Restore Hope”.
Another Liberian army officer, Maj. Ibrahim Quoijando has also been deployed Military Observer to the United Nations Mission in Sudan, according to the Defense Ministry’s Spokesman, Sam Colling, Assistant Minister of Public Affairs.
Since its restructuring many years ago, the Defense and AFL authorities have made great strides in developing the manpower capacity of personnel.
Recently, another Defense Ministry personnel completed his Master’s in Military Science. Defense Deputy Director for Public Affairs, Junior A. Morris returned to Liberia after obtaining a Master’s Degree of Military Science/ Strategic Studies from the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army in Beijing, China.
Deputy Director Morris who departed the country early last year. successfully delivered and defended his dissertation on: “Counter terrorism”.