Monrovia — The head of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) General William Ward is expected in the country today to serve as guest speaker at the activation and Initial Entry Training (IET) of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL).

A Defense Ministry release said Gen. Ward would also be the guest of honor at the ceremonies of the first battalion of the 23rd Infantry Brigade and Initial Entry Training graduation at the Barclay Training Center (BTC) Friday.

The Ministry of National Defense in collaboration with the Pacific Architecture Engineering (PAE) and DynCorp International will hold the activation ceremony.

According to a release, the graduation would seal the IET as the numerical strength of the restructured Armed Forces of Liberia as it reaches its peak of 2,000 professional, strong and effective force.

According to the release, the activation ceremony is an old army tradition which serves two purposes including allowing commanders the opportunity to assess the readiness and discipline of the unit and uncasing of the Guide on which marks a definite point in time to commemorate the beginning or continuation of unit's history and lineage by carrying on the finest tradition of the AFL.

The release added that the IET Class 08-08 is the fifth and last graduation of the new AFL under the Security Sector Reform (SSR) program which the United States government plays a lead sponsorship role.

According to the release, the class consists of 498 recruits consisting of five females and 493 males.

The release said the graduates are expected to continue subsequent advanced individual and other military occupational specialized trainings.

The training of the 2,000-strong Liberian army was conducted by the U.S. private military firm, DynCorp.

Meanwhile, the visit of the AFRICOM Commander comes in the midst of the United States government's efforts at transforming the military command from under the European command in Germany to an independent unified command with headquarters in Africa.

Liberia had offered its territory to host the Africom headquarters, but the United States government has apparently deferred a determination on the matter.

However, U.S. officials say Africom is expected to assume its independent unified role by

October 1, 2008 with its headquarters in Germany for the "foreseeable future."

Africom was created in February 2007, as a military command through which the U.S. would better focus its resources to support and enhance U.S. initiatives that help African nations. It is also a command that focuses on building capacity of African security forces.