The information in these press releases was accurate at the time of posting but may have been superseded by subsequent news releases.
MONROVIA, LIBERIA – August 4, 2005 –
DynCorp International, a leading professional services and project
management firm, is helping the U.S. government demobilize and retire
members of Liberia’s armed forces, and to train a new, modern army to
serve Liberia’s future interests.
The United States is
spending nearly $70 million this fiscal year to rehabilitate combatants
and reintegrate them into society, reform the country’s police force
and financial sector, and provide humanitarian and medical relief to
Liberia.
The goal of the demobilization program is to help
9,000 war recruits – who joined the army after 1989 during Liberia’s
war years – re-enter civilian life.
They will have undergone a
thorough demobilization process near Camp Shiefflin outside of
Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. As part of the severance process,
each war recruit receives a demobilization certificate, a
state-of-the-art ID card that is valid for life, and a voucher for
$540.
During the opening ceremony on June 30, Liberian
Minister of Defense Daniel Chea urged members of the Armed forces of
Liberia (AFL) to conduct themselves as military professionals during
the process. The service men responded enthusiastically, often breaking
into song and military cadence as they waited in the demobilization
line. A.W. Short, program manager for DynCorp International in Liberia,
said the AFL members behaved excellently, citing that "morale and
esprit de corps was high as the units moved on to a better day for
Liberia."
Staff Sgt. Lawuoba Emmanuel Baker, Air
Reconnaissance Unit, explained that it felt good to go through the
demobilization process. Since it was his first time being photographed
and fingerprinted with such sophisticated equipment, he found the
experience "hard but not in a bad way." The professional fumigator said
he would use his $540 to buy more chemicals and spray tanks for his
business.
Jacob Wah is one of the 30 Liberian computer and
fingerprint operators who are processing the soldiers. He has learned
to operate a computer program that produces IDs with photos and
fingerprint information. He said he was enjoying the work and has found
the war recruits to be polite.
"This is a process that we must
go through for the country to be on good footing," said Capt. Joseph
Simpson, a pilot with the Air Reconnaissance Unit. "This process, as
everyone knows, is the gateway to the election and then forward on.
It´s something that we feel happy about. For those of us who would have
the desire to come back and will meet the criteria, that is good
enough. On the other hand, those who will be going [to civilian life],
as the minister rightly put it, they should not have any fear as they
will have the second chance of going to school. So far, so good. I am
happy."
Capt. G. Mansfield Hne of the Air Reconnaissance Unit said he is happy that army members have been appreciated and compensated.