The polyglot ECOMIL force will total 3,200 soldiers when it reaches full strength at the end of this first week of September. There are 2,000 soldiers from Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal already deployed in Liberia. The Nigerian troops make up the bulk of the peacekeeping force, with some 1,400 soldiers on the ground. A company of 150 Togolese troops left on the 4th, while a Gambian company of 150 had embarked on the 1st. 

The 650-man Guinea-Bissau Armed Forces battalion that left for Liberia on September 2 was trained over the last few months by Portuguese instructors and inspected by US 'technicians'. ECOMIL stationed the Guinea-Bissau troops in the Banga region, Liberia's northern border with the Ivory Coast. The ECOMIL mission has a two year duration, which means rotations of units. A second Guinea-Bissau battalion has begun training in anticipation of their deployment six months from now. - Adam Geibel