Monrovia — Jacques Klein, the head of the United Nations mission in Liberia, urged the country's transitional government on Wednesday to abolish the national army, saying soldiers only "play cards and plot coups."
Outlining plans to disarm Liberia's three armed factions after 14 years of civil war, Klein said all the country needed was a decent police force and a border security force of 600 to 700 men.
"If I had to give advice to the government of Liberia, I would say you do not need an army," the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General told a news conference. "Armies sit around playing cards and plotting coups. What Liberia needs is a strong state border service to guard its borders against smuggling, illegal migration and cross-border combatants."
"You do not need an army. Armies are a waste of time and money," Klein stressed. Earlier this week, in a BBC interview, he labelled the fighters of Liberia's former government and two rebel groups as "thieves, murderers and criminals."
Klein said that like the army, Liberia's current police force, estimated at 3,500 to 4,000 strong, would be demobilised. In its place, he said, a UN force of 1,150 international policeman would train and establish a completely new police force, comprised of recruits from throughout Liberia.
This would take over internal security following the holding of fresh elections in two years time.
Klein urged Liberia to become the first country in Africa to abolish its army, noting that the government had no quarrels or territorial disputes with neighbouring Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire. He said the government should make a formal declaration to this effect.
"I think it would be very dramatic for Liberia to say we are the first African state that has no intention of attacking our neighbours. That is what armies do. But we do want secure and stable borders," Klein said.
All Liberia needed, he added, was a battalion-strong border security force, recruited from scratch, and equipped with three frigates to protect the country's fisheries and offshore waters.
Klein, a former US air force general, urged the United States to take responsibility for training and equipping such a force. He said he would make formal proposals to US ambassador John Blaney to that effect.
The UN supremo in Liberia said that ideally the entire border security force should undergo training overseas at an institution such as the Fort Benning military academy in the United States, to ensure that it was competent and professional in its approach.
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"I would advocate not training them here. I would advocate putting together a battalion and taking to the United States to a place like Fort Benning for six months, training them into a highly professional unit that understands the role of a soldier in a democratic society, that your job is to protect the citizens and not to kill them," Klein said.
The UN estimates that there are approximately 38,000 gunmen in Liberia awaiting disarmament following the signature of a peace agreement in August between the government of former president Charles Taylor and two rebel movements; Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).
Klein confirmed that the UN peacekeeping force in Liberia (UNMIL) would start to demobilise and disarm fighters of all three factions in "early December" with the establishment of three separate camps to receive and process government, LURD and MODEL fighters.
He said the new UN police commissioner for Liberia, Mark Croker of the United States, would arrive in Monrovia on Sunday.
