Editing Armed Forces of Liberia (section)

===First Liberian Civil War (1989–1997)===
[[Charles Taylor (Liberia)|Charles Taylor]] invaded the country at Butuo in [[Nimba County]] on Christmas Eve 1989 with a force of around 150 men, initiating the [[First Liberian Civil War]]. Doe responded by sending two AFL battalions to Nimba in December 1989 – January 1990,<ref>Charles Hartung, 'Peacekeeping in Liberia: ECOMOG and the Struggle for Order,' Liberian Studies Journal, Volume XXX, No.2, 2005</ref> under then-Colonel [[Hezekiah Bowen]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Liberian Civil War|last=Hubard|first=Mark|pages=115, 118–119}} Then Lieutenant General Hezekiah Bowen was later mentioned in the Abuja Accords of 1996.</ref> The Liberian government forces assumed that most of the Mano and Gio peoples in the Nimba region were supporting the rebels.  They thus acted in a very brutal and scorched-earth fashion which quickly alienated the local people. Taylor's support rose rapidly, as the Mano and Gio flocked to his [[National Patriotic Front of Liberia]] seeking revenge. Many government soldiers deserted, some to join the NPFL. The inability of the AFL to make any headway was one of the reasons why Doe changed his field commander in the area five times in the first six months of the war.<ref>Stephen Ellis, ''The Mask of Anarchy,'' Hurst and Company, London, 2001, 78.</ref>

Field commanders apparently included Brigadier General Edward Smith.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-03-22 |title=The Daily Maverick :: Photojournalist Gregory Stemn on living and documenting the war in Liberia |url=http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/article/2011-03-08-photojournalist-gregory-stemn-on-living-and-documenting-the-war-in-liberia |access-date=2023-04-18 |website=The Daily Maverick|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322032807/http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/article/2011-03-08-photojournalist-gregory-stemn-on-living-and-documenting-the-war-in-liberia |archive-date=March 22, 2011 }}</ref> By May 1990 the AFL had been forced back to [[Gbarnga]], still under the control of Bowen's troops, but they lost the town to a NPFL assault by the end of May 1990, at which time the NPFL also captured [[Buchanan, Liberia|Buchanan]] on the coast.<ref>Adebajo, 2002, p.58. See also Hubard, pp.118–125.</ref> The NPFL had now gathered an estimated 10,000 fighters while the AFL, splintering, could only summon 2,000.<ref>Adebajo, 2002, p.58</ref>

The revolt reached Monrovia by July 1990, and General Dubar left the country for exile in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|first=Y Clifford|last=Krauss|title=Rebel forces in Liberia surround the capital and begin an attack|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/03/world/rebel-forces-in-liberia-surround-the-capital-and-begin-an-attack.html|work=The New York Times|location=New York, NY|date=July 3, 1990|access-date=2010-05-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080756/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/03/world/rebel-forces-in-liberia-surround-the-capital-and-begin-an-attack.html|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In place of Dubar, Brigadier General Charles Julu, former commander of the Executive Mansion Guard Battalion, was appointed Chief of Staff. Two Liberian Coast Guard vessels were sunk in the battles for the city.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-20-mn-389-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | title=Liberian Rebels Tighten Grip on North of Monrovia | first=Jack | last=Smith | date=20 July 1990 | access-date=2010-05-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018115548/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-20/news/mn-389_1_liberian-rebels | archive-date=October 18, 2012 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }}</ref> The NPFL had been distributing weapons to Gio civilians after it arrived in Nimba, where many were very interested in taking their revenge on the government after Doe had punished Nimba country for its support of Quiwonkpa in 1983 and 1985.{{sfn|Ellis|2001|p=78}}

By July 1990 the government began to distribute weapons to civilians in turn, to Krahn and Mandingo who wished to protect themselves. These hastily enlisted civilians became known as '1990 soldiers.' A '1990 soldier' which the President had personally picked, Tailey Yonbu, led a massacre of refugees, mostly Gio and Mano civilians, on the night of July 29/30, 1990 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in [[Sinkor]], Monrovia. Some 600 were killed.{{sfn|Ellis|2001|p=80}} Because of the previous ethnic purges carried out by Doe's forces, the conflict took on characteristics of an ethnic pogrom.{{sfn|Ellis|2001|p=78}}

In August 1990 the [[Economic Community of West African States]] (ECOWAS) dispatched a peacekeeping force, [[ECOMOG]], to Liberia. The force arrived at the Freeport of Monrovia on August 24, 1990, landing from Nigerian and Ghanaian vessels. By the time ECOMOG arrived, Prince Johnson's INPFL and Taylor's NPFL were fighting on the outside bounds of the port.<ref>Adebajo, 2002, p.75</ref> A series of peacemaking conferences in regional capitals followed. There were meetings in Bamako in November 1990, Lome in January 1991, and Yamoussoukro in June–October 1991. The first seven peace conferences, including the Yamoussoukro I-IV processes and the Carter Center negotiation leading to the Cotonou Accords, failed due to lack of agreement between the warring factions. The NPFL launched an assault on Monrovia in 1992, which they named 'Operation Octopus.' The civil war lasted until the Abuja Accords of August 1996.

The AFL was confined to an enclave around the capital during the conflict, and did not play a significant part in the fighting. Elections in July 1997 finally brought Taylor to power. Under the accords, which led to a break in fighting in 1996 and the [[Liberian general election, 1997]], [[ECOMOG]] was to retrain a new national army based on fair ethnic and geographical representation.<ref name="globalsecurity.org">See also IRIN, [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/01/mil-060104-irin04.htm LIBERIA: Soldiers refuse to quit camp needed for new army] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070416042734/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/01/mil-060104-irin04.htm |date=April 16, 2007 }}, January 4, 2006.</ref> Yet Taylor denied ECOMOG any role in the restructuring of the AFL, and the force eventually left Liberia by the end of 1998.{{sfn|Adebajo|2002|p=233–235}}

During the 1990–99 period, Chiefs of Staff included Lieutenant Colonel Davis S. Brapoh, Lieutenant General Hezekiah Bowen (later Minister of Defense), Lieutenant General A.M.V. Doumuyah, and Lieutenant General Kalilu [[Abraham Kromah|Abe Kromah]], appointed during the interim rule of the Council of State in 1996,<ref>Kromah was a former police officer, and promoted again, like Dubar, in one leap to lieutenant general. He now appears to be in the United States. ({{cite web |url=http://www.felmausa.org/felmausa178.htm |title=ELECTIONS SPECIAL: Board Chairman Needs Your Unflinching Support For Re-election |access-date=2010-03-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726051510/http://www.felmausa.org/felmausa178.htm |archive-date=July 26, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}).</ref> who was chief of staff from May 1996 to April 1997. Following Kromah, Lieutenant General Prince C. Johnson was appointed, who died in October 1999 following a car accident.<ref name=AFT63 />