Defense Minister Brownie Samukai has said that soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) has not fired a shot nor any of them is missing in action since their deployment to secure the Liberian side of the Ivory Coast-Liberia border in the wake of the rebel incursion into the Ivory Coast few months ago resulting into the death of nine Nigerian peace-keepers of the United Nations peacekeeping operations in the Ivory Coast.
Speaking at the Ministry of Information's regular Thursday press briefing last week, the Defense Ministry boss lauded the excellent performance of AFL soldiers since their deployment, noting that not a single bullet had been fired at a Liberian soldier and no battle had been fought on Liberian soil.
The Defense Minister indicated that the reasons why the AFL commander-in-Chief President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ordered the deployment of AFL troops at the border was not only to stop the war from entering Liberia, but to curtail the flow of illegal arms entering into this country.
The Defense Minister reiterated that it was also meant to discourage non-state actors involved in subversive activities from entering Liberia and to ensure the free flow of humanitarian assistance to and from the Ivory Coast.
'The President and Commander-in-Chief was very clear as to what the soldiers were to do and where to be deployed. We have excellent relations between the Ivorian authorities including my counterpart Kofi Kofi. There is an excellent relations between AFL soldiers deployed and the local authorities as well as with UNMIL'.
The Defense Minister also emphasized that we look forward to 2014 when UNMIL is expected to withdraw as our intention is that by then AFL will be prepared for the charge', he noted.
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