Camp Schiefflin
The military barracks Camp Schiefflin is situated midway between Monrovia, the ruined Roberts International Airport and the American-owned Firestone Rubber Plantation in Harbel.
In accordance with the revised timetable for the implementation of the Abuja Agreement, disarmament and demobilization were scheduled to commence on 22 November 1996. Despite the failure of the factions to implement fully the ceasefire and disengagement of forces by 31 August, the ECOWAS Committee of Nine called on ECOMOG to take the steps necessary to prepare for the commencement of disarmament on 22 November, on the basis of the manpower and logistics currently available on the ground. To this end, the ECOMOG Force Commander had started deploying ECOMOG troops on 20 November to the following disarmament sites: Voinjama, Bo Waterside, Camp Naama, SOS Village, Zwedru and Tubmanburg. Disarmament was also to take place in Monrovia, at Camp Schiefflin, and in Greenville.
In December 1998 the Liberian government rejected allegations that it was training child soldiers in a camp near Monrovia, news agencies reported. A Liberian child rights' advocate, Kimmie Weeks, charged that children were being recruited and trained as soldiers at the Camp Schiefflin barracks located on the outskirts of the capital. Weeks quoted responsible sources as saying that they had seen as many as 500 children between the ages of 10 and 17 on a base doing combat drill and light rifle training, according to the Liberian paper The Inquirer. He added that he went to the base but was unable to speak to the children as he did not have adequate identification. Justice Minister Eddington Varmah said the recruits on the base where not under age but in their early twenties.
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