Women sought for new Liberian army

MONROVIA, Liberia – The first African country led by a democratically elected woman began recruiting women into its new postwar army Monday.

Liberia’s new army will initially number 2,000 troops, including about 400 women, said Edith Bawn, spokeswoman for the government body that oversees the creation of the armed forces and includes representatives of the United Nations and the United States.

On Monday, dozens of women lined up outside a military barracks in the capital Monrovia.

“I want to join the army because I love my country and feel that my country is more important than I am,” said one of them, Edith Nelson.

Another, Kotati Jackson, said she wanted to join to become a medic.

“I want to be of help to my colleagues, mainly the wounded ones,” she said.

Women have served in small numbers in Liberia’s military in the past, but recruiting for the new army, which began in January, had until now only been open to men.

During decades of civil war, many women in Liberia were forced by government troops and rebels alike to cook or carry supplies. Others became “bush wives,” or sex slaves kept for years by commanders. Some led units as battle-hardened front-line fighters.

Liberian officials say the drive to recruit women is part of the country’s broader goal of ensuring gender balance under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who inherited a poor, war-ravaged nation when she took office in January as Africa’s first elected female head of state.

Bawn called Monday’s recruitment drive “a special push to attract women.”

“Women bring a special sensitiveness to the military,” she said. “And they’re very good at support roles.”

Reconstituting the army is considered crucial to helping Liberia escape a cycle of coups and civil war that has torn the West African nation apart for a quarter century.