First unit of Liberia's new post-war army graduates

MONROVIA, Nov 5 (Reuters) The first batch of US-trained soldiers who will form Liberia's new army graduated and national leaders urged them to protect democracy and respect human rights in a country scarred by a long civil war.

Three years after the end of the brutal conflict that devastated Liberia, the United States is helping to create a trim, modern armed forces in the small coastal West African state, which was founded by freed slaves from America in 1847.

During the 14-year civil war, Liberia became a byword for brutality as drugged-up child soldiers killed and maimed with impunity. The war ended with a 2003 peace deal which saw former warlord and president Charles Taylor go into exile in Nigeria.

Taylor is now in a cell in The Hague awaiting trial for war crimes he is accused of committing in Sierra Leone.

At a ceremony in Monrovia yesterday, 106 officer trainees, the first members of what eventually will be a 4,000-strong Liberian armed forces formally graduated in the presence of government officials and foreign diplomats.

''This graduation is an initial step in the building of a professional army, which we all will be proud of,'' Liberia's Vice-President Joseph Boakai told the graduates.

''We want a military that plays a supportive role in the consolidation of democracy and in the protection of our human rights,'' he added, urging the soldiers to respect the rule of law and democracy at all times.

Forming a new army has been part of the huge reconstruction task facing Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first elected woman head of state, who beat soccer millionaire George Weah in a vote as year ago.

A US defence contractor, DynCorp International, has a US State Department contract to train Liberia's new professional armed forces, including Ministry of Defence staff. Recruitment, including screening ex-combatants to ensure they had not committed human rights abuses, began earlier in the year.

US Ambassador to Liberia Donald Booth told the first graduates they were ''an essential building block in creating a lasting, free, fair and peaceful Liberia''.

''We believe that a professional Armed Force has a sacred responsibility to provide equal protection to all its nation's citizens without regard to ethnicity, gender, religion and age,'' he added.

DynCorp, which also trains police in Iraq and Afghanistan, last year helped demobilise some 9,000 fighters from Liberia's civil war as part of a 70 million dollars US-financed rehabilitation, reform and relief package.

A UN peacekeeping mission is still in place in Liberia but authorities have recently reported an upsurge in violent crime in the capital Monrovia.

Analysts say the formation of a lean, efficient and disciplined army, coupled with government programmes to create jobs, is crucial to prevent disgruntled former soldiers and rebels from dragging Liberia back into anarchy and war. There have already been several protests about payoffs and pensions.

REUTERS PB ND0846