GANTA, Nimba – As the United Nations Mission in Liberia draws to a close, the government is setting up a nationwide Community Watch Forum as a means of maintaining peace and security.

UNMIL is set to withdraw all its troops by June 2016, thereby leaving the government in charge of its own security.

In Ganta, 24 members of the CWF were certificated following three days of intensive training on June 13. The men were trained in basic crime response techniques and will serve as ‘first-hand’ support to the Liberian National Police in their respective communities.

During the occasion, Stanley Vonyee, the chairman of the CWF in Nimba cautioned members not to see themselves as police officers whose responsibility is to investigate crimes or other unlawful acts.

“Your primary responsibility is to respond to crimes in the absence of the police and subsequently turn over those involved to the LNP. You are not police officers,” he said.

Vonyee then called upon the government to support the CWF with logistical and financial support that would keep the forum functional.

He appealed to the government help the CWF with motorbikes, rain equipment and stipends to allow them to work more effectively.

The Community Watch Forum was useful during the Ebola outbreak in the country as members helped keep watch over their respective communities amid reports of unknown people poisoning wells and hand pumps.

Since Liberia was declared free of the Ebola in May and reports of poisoning wells and hand pumps are no longer occurring, the government has re-directed the focus of the CWF to buttress the strength of the LNP.

Featured image courtesy of Bureau of IIP