09/19/2007

Contact: Mark Malan and Melanie Teff

In order to strengthen the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), the US State Department should request, and Congress support, a 2008 supplemental budget equal to that granted in July 2007 for the Liberia Security Sector Reform Program. Reliable funding is necessary to develop the AFL into a force that can secure the territorial integrity of Liberia, together with the Liberian National Police, once UNMIL has withdrawn.

• The 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement explicitly requests that the United States play a leading role in organizing the restructuring of the AFL. The United States pledged $210 million to help dissolve the old armed forces and recruit and train a new army. The US contribution is provided through the Security Sector Reform (SSR) Program, but weak and erratic funding from the US is slowing the development of the AFL.


• The end state for the AFL is a professional army, “modeled on US Army doctrine, that will support the national objectives of the Government of Liberia.” The SSR Program plans to deliver, by September 2010, an AFL with a total planned strength of 2,000 men and women.


• The most controversial facet of the SSR Program is the use by the US Department of State of two private contractors to deliver US support to the Government of Liberia. DynCorp International has been contracted to provide basic facilities and basic training for the AFL, and Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE) won the contract for building a base, for forming and structuring the AFL and its component units, and for providing specialized and advanced training, including mentoring of the AFL’s fledgling officer and non-commissioned officer corps.


• The SSR Program is funding every aspect of the AFL except salaries. Under the SSR Program, three military bases have been established, 13,770 soldiers who served in the old AFL have been demobilized and the Ministry of Defense has been disbanded. Select candidates from the MOD have been retrained, and on March 20, 2007, 119 civilian MOD employees graduated after completing 17 weeks of SSR Program training.


• The SSR Program subsequently supported the Ministry of Defense with the recruiting and vetting of 12,100 applicants for service in the new AFL. DynCorp designed and continues to manage the ongoing Recruiting and Vetting program. At present, no single ethnic group makes up more than 15% of the AFL. (The MOD has set a gender target of 20% women in the force.)


• Only 5% of the new force has been trained, and 630 recruits have graduated from the Initial Entry Training (IET) course. The IET has been reduced from 11 weeks to 8 weeks by cutting three weeks that were devoted to human rights and civics training. These subjects have been dropped because of the high cost of basic training, which has caused concern within Liberian civil society.


• There is clearly a gap when it comes to senior command positions in the AFL. Ideally, the appointment of the brigade commander, battalion commander and senior staff officers should have preceded the formation, activation, and operationalization of the 23rd Brigade. The Brigade cannot be declared operational until such posts are filled by competent officers.


• Funding for the SSR Program is provided through the PKO budget. Funding to date has fallen far short of the initial US pledge, and money has been disbursed in dribs and drabs. In the FY 07/08 budget, only $13 million was appropriated. This was followed by a further $11 million transfer from the Economic Support Fund (ESF) in June 2007 and by $35 million in the July 2007 supplemental budget. The latter money came just in time to prevent the collapse of the recruitment and basic training program.


• Ongoing delays caused by erratic funding have increased the time taken by DynCorp to fulfil its contract, and DynCorp’s services are particularly costly. The DynCorp contract has been signed on a “cost plus [overhead]” basis, and DynCorp has a fixed “burn rate” for every month that it is retained in Liberia. The combined expenses of DynCorp and PAE totalled $18 million in the first six months of 2007.


• Benchmarks for the draw-down and ultimate withdrawal of UNMIL forces are closely linked to AFL capacity to assume responsibility for the territorial integrity of Liberia. As matters stand, the 1st battalion should be operational by September 2009, and the 2nd Battalion by March 2010 if there is sufficient funding in place. However, the extant level of funding is sufficient to provide for the basic training of a total of only 1,200 recruits, which means that the 2nd battalion cannot be formed unless there is a further supplemental of $42-44 million to carry the SSR Program until the FY 09 budget kicks in.