Monrovia – Amid UNMIL drawdown, other partners are working with the government in the line of security.
Report by Mae Azango [email protected]
One of such partners is the United States Adjutant General of Michigan National Guard, Major General Gregory J. Vandias.
The General and his team of four men, on Thursday paid a courtesy call to Defense Minister Brownie J. Samukai at the Ministry of Defense in Monrovia in strengthening the relationship between the two countries.
“We at the Michigan National Guard in the US will continue to build our partnership and continue to support the AFL.
“I am so proud of the AFL and the big progress we made since 2009. From Gen. Ziankahn all the way down to the last soldier, we so proud of you for the level of professionalism and commitment in the Army.
General Vandias who has served the U.S. army for 46 years, was in Liberia last Feb, and said this is his ninth trip to Liberia for the past six years.
He further said he and his men had been in Liberia since 2009, conducting training for the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) that has made them proud after the years of training.
Defense Minister Samukai said the visit of the General to the Liberian Army he had trained over the years had always been an exciting one in that the AFL Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel Ziankahn and the soldiers were always happy to have the US General visit them time after time.
“As UNMIL has drawn down, our other partners from the US and other countries have not divorced from us,” Minister Samukai said.
“They are still checking on the security situation in the country. Do you know that there is a French warship here in Liberia to work along with our Coast Guard, to do maritime operations?
So you see our partners are still engaged with us in doing many activities.”
In a related development and as a way of beefing up the Liberia Coast Guard activities in the country, a French warship Commandant Ducuing arrived in Monrovia and will be here from Oct 19-21 to conduct maritime cooperation.
The naval vessel that has 96 crew members is armed with100mm caliber, two 20 mm guns, and four 12.7 mm caliber guns. It is 80 meters long capacity of leading all kinds of operations at sea.