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Anti-Terrorist Unit (Liberia)
The Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU), also known as the Anti-Terrorist Brigade, was a paramilitary force of the government of Liberia, established by then-President Charles Taylor in 1997–98. Chuckie Taylor, Charles Taylor's son, served as commander of the force for a period. The ATU was initially organized ostensibly to protect government buildings, the executive mansion, the international airport, and to provide security for some foreign embassies. It was a special forces group consisting predominantly of foreign nationals from Burkina Faso and The Gambia, as well as former Revolutionary United Front (RUF) combatants from Sierra Leone. The ATU had no legal basis for its existence, and was not under the command of the Ministry of National Defense (Liberia), Ministry of Defense. The ATU absorbed Taylor's most experienced NPFL civil war fighters, including undisciplined and untrained loyalists. Sam Bockarie (alias Mosquito), and Brig. Gen. Abu were named as being among the ATU's senior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Liberian Civil War
The Second Liberian Civil War was a conflict in the West African nation of Liberia lasted from 1999 to 2003. It was preceded by the First Liberian Civil War, which ended in 1996. President Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 after victory in the First Liberian Civil War which led to two years of peace. The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), an anti-Taylor rebel group backed by the government of Guinea, invaded northern Liberia in April 1999. LURD made gradual gains against Taylor in the north and began approaching the capital Monrovia by early 2002. The Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), a second anti-Taylor rebel group, invaded southern Liberia in early 2003 and quickly conquered most of the south. Taylor, controlling only a third of Liberia and under pressure from the Siege of Monrovia, resigned in August 2003 and fled to Nigeria. The Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed by the warring parties a week later, marking the political end of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with diverse environments ranging from savanna to rainforests. The country has a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. The capital and largest city is Freetown. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are subdivided into Districts of Sierra Leone, 16 districts. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected executive president, president serving a five-year term with a maximum of two terms. The current president is Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone is a Secular state, secular nation with Constitution of Sierra Leone, the constitution providing for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience (which includes freedom of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human rights abusers to denounce abuse and respect human rights, and the group often works on behalf of refugees, children, migrants, and political prisoners. Human Rights Watch, in 1997, shared the Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and it played a leading role in the 2008 treaty banning cluster munitions. The organization's annual expenses totaled $50.6 million in 2011, $69.2 million in 2014, and $75.5 million in 2017. History Human Rights Watch was co-founded by Robert L. Bernstein Jeri Laber and Aryeh Neier as a private American NGO in 1978, under the name Helsinki Watch, to monitor the then-Soviet Union's compliance with the Helsinki Accords. Helsinki Watch adopted a practice of public ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and visiting heads of state or government. Until 2003, the Secret Service was part of the Department of the Treasury, as the agency was founded in 1865 to combat the then-widespread counterfeiting of U.S. currency. Primary missions The Secret Service is mandated by Congress with two distinct and critical national security missions: protecting the nation's leaders and safeguarding the financial and critical infrastructure of the United States. Protective mission The Secret Service is tasked with ensuring the safety of the president of the United States, the vice president of the United States, the president-elect of the United States, the vice president-elect of the United States, and their immediate families; former presidents, their sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Republican Guard (Iraq)
The Iraqi Republican Guard ( ar, حرس العراق الجمهوري ''Ḥaras al-ʿIrāq al-Jamhūrīy'') was a branch of the Iraqi military from 1969 to 2003, which existed primarily during the presidency of Saddam Hussein. It later became known as the ''Republican Guard Corps,'' and then the ''Republican Guard Forces Command'' (''RGFC'') with its expansion into two corps. The Republican Guard was disbanded in 2003 after the invasion of Iraq by a U.S.-led international coalition. The Republican Guard were the elite troops of the Iraqi army directly reporting to Saddam Hussein, unlike the paramilitary force Fedayeen Saddam, and the ordinary Iraqi Army. They were better trained, disciplined, equipped, and paid more than ordinary Iraqi soldiers, receiving bonuses, new cars, and subsidized housing. Formation Formed in 1969, it was originally created to be a presidential guard. Its primary objective was to maintain the stability of the regime and provide protection against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monrovia
Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the nation's primate city, Monrovia is the country's economic, financial and cultural center; its economy is primarily centered on its harbor and its role as the seat of Liberian government. Etymology Monrovia is named in honor of U.S. President James Monroe, a prominent supporter of the colonization of Liberia and the American Colonization Society. Along with Washington, D.C., it is one of two world capitals to be named after a U.S. President. History Before 1816, the area around Cape Mesurado and the mouth of the Mesurado River was called Ducor. It had long been established as a crossroads and place of trade, and was inhabited by fishing, trading and farming communities of various ethnicities, including the Dey, Kru, Bassa, Gola, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SADF
The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Force was officially succeeded by the SADF, which was established by the Defence Act (No. 44) of 1957. The SADF, in turn, was superseded by the South African National Defence Force in 1994. Mission and structure The SADF was organised to perform a dual mission: to counter possible insurgency in all forms, and to maintain a conventional military arm which could defend the republic's borders, making retaliatory strikes as necessary. As the military expanded during the 1970s, the SADF general staff was organised into six sections—finance, intelligence, logistics, operations, personnel, and planning; uniquely, the South African Medical Service (SAMS) was made co-equal with the South African Army, the South African Navy and the South African ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Bockarie
Samuel Sam Bockarie, widely known as Mosquito (2 October 1964 – 5 May 2003), was a Sierra Leonean politician and army commander who served as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Bockarie was infamous during the Sierra Leone Civil War for his brutal tactics, which included amputation, mutilation, and rape. He earned the nickname "Mosquito" for his ability to attack when his enemies were off-guard, mainly during the night. During his service in the RUF, he befriended future Liberian president Charles Taylor, and RUF commander Foday Sankoh. When Sankoh was imprisoned from March 1997 until April 1999, Bockarie served as commander of the RUF in his place. Youth Sam Bockarie was born on 2 October 1964 in Koidu Town, Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Bockarie was the son of a diamond miner and he was raised in his hometown of Koidu Town. Following in his father's footsteps, Bockarie dropped out of secondary school to become a diamond miner. In 198 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministry Of National Defense (Liberia)
The Ministry of National Defense (''MOD'') is the government ministry responsible for the maintenance of the national defense and the governance of the military of Liberia, the Armed Forces of Liberia. History An amendment to the Liberian Constitution allowed the previously named War Department to be renamed the Department of National Defense on February 25, 1955. Then, during the early years of President William Tolbert's Administration after 1971, all departments were renamed Ministries and thus the organization became the Ministry of National Defense. Retired General Ziankahn remains the Minister of Defence. List of ministers Secretaries of War and the Navy (1848-1971) * Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1848-1876) * Reginald A. Sherman (1876-1892) * Colonel Anthony D. Williams, Jr. (1892-1900) * George B. Padmore * Robert T. Sherman * Wilmot H. Dennis * Columbus Harris * Isaac Moart * James F. Cooper * B.W. Payne * James W. Cooper * Momolu Massaquoi * Joseph Dennis * Henry Reed C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revolutionary United Front
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surviving leaders, Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, were convicted in February 2009 of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Creation The RUF initially coalesced as a group of Sierra Leoneans which led National Patriotic Front of Liberia elements across the border in an attempt to replicate Charles Taylor's earlier success in toppling the Liberian government. The RUF was created by Foday Sankoh, of Temne background, and some allies, Abu Kanu, Rashid Mansaray, with substantial assistance from Charles Taylor of Liberia.David M. Crane , Special Court for Sierra Leone (February 5, 2004) Initially, the RUF was popular with Sierra Leoneans, many of whom resented a Freetown elite seen as corrupt and looked forward to promised ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Ivorian Civil War
The First Ivorian Civil War was a civil conflict in the Ivory Coast (also known as Côte d'Ivoire) that began with a military rebellion on 19 September 2002 and ended with a peace agreement on 4 March 2007. The conflict pitted the government of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo against a domestic insurgency led by the New Forces of Ivory Coast (''Forces nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire''). The war was preceded by a tumultuous decade in Ivory Coast, marked by an economic downturn and, following the death of long-time Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny in December 1993, a leadership succession crisis. The succession crisis manifested in a 1999 military coup d'état and a violent dispute over the result of the 2000 presidential election. Three successive Ivorian leaders – Henri Konan Bédié from 1993, Robert Guéï from 1999, and Gbagbo from 2000 – exploited the ideology of Ivoirité to repress and marginalise political opposition, notably by disqualifying Alassane Ouattar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
