The Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) 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(a): 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(b): 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(c): 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(d): 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(e): 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
The modern Armed Forces of Liberia grew out of a militia that was formed by the first black colonists from the United States. The militia was first formed when in August 1822 an attack was feared on Cape Mesurado (where Monrovia now is) and the agent of the settlements directed the mobilization of all "able-bodied males into a militia and declared martial law." By 1846, the size of the militia had grown to two regiments. Following independence in 1847, the militia continued to serve as the country's defense force Following the model of the United States Army. In 1900, Liberian men between the ages of sixteen and fifty were considered liable for service in the militia. The militia also had a navy consisting of two small gunboats.Keltie, J.S., ed. The Statesman's Year Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1900. New York: MacMillan, 1900. p 794. (Retrieved via Google Books March 3, 2011.) In the 1850s, the Liberian president requested naval support from the British government to transport Liberian troops to the Gallinas territory to punish Liberians there who persisted in slave trafficking.
On February 6, 1908, the militia was established on a permanent basis as the 500-strong Liberian Frontier Force (LFF). The LFF's original mission was "to patrol the border in the Hinterland [against British and French territorial ambitions] 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.See Timothy D. Nevin, "The Uncontrollable Force: A Brief History of the Liberian Frontier Force, 1908-1944, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 44, No. 2, 2011, 280-281, and http://newliberian.com/?p=137 for the Cadell affair.
In 1912, the United States established military ties with Liberia by sending some five black American officers to help reorganize the force.Harrison Akingbade, "U.S. Liberian relations during World War II," Phylon, Vol. XLVI, No.1, 1985, p. 25 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."Chapter XIX, An Act Relating to the Military Service of the Republic, approved February 20, 1940, Chapter I, Section 2. 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 (known as Robertsfield), and transformed the capital by building a deep water port (the Freeport of Monrovia). Black ("Colored") 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.Harrison Akingbade's article in Phylon. The armed forces came to rely almost exclusively on American assistance in terms of training, with non-US training "tend[ing] to be brief and uninspired [with little] 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 (USAFIL) 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 (ASTP) and had a total of 46 students at the University of Liberia, the Booker Washington Institute, and three smaller institutions.1978 Annual Report, p. 7 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,Brownie J. Samukai, Armed Forces Of Liberia: Reality Check For A New Military With A Redefined Constitutional Mission , February 17, 2004. Retrieved August 2010 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.'Gus Liebenow, in Liberia: The Evolution of Privilege (p.109). Other source says February 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.C. Winnie Saywah, Espicopal Bishop Urges AFL Soldiers . theinquirer.com.lr. Tuesday, February 7, 2012. 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.Annex O: Location and Strength of UN Units in the Congo: September 1960, in Lefever, Ernest W., and Wynfred Joshua. Prepared for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency by the Brookings Institution, June 30, 1966. 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.