Some 120 military recruits, the first batch of a 2,000-strong new Liberian army, started training Monday, the agency charged with the process said.
In a statement, Dyncorp, a US company appointed to train and build the security apparatus of the war-shattered country, said the training will last 15 weeks.
Last year Dyncorp helped disarm and demobilise Liberia's old army, which was heavily dominated by civil-war era recruits loyal to warlord Charles Taylor.
The US government, which is sponsoring the revamping of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), has out-sourced the training of the force to Dyncorp International, a Virginia-based security and aircraft maintenance services firm.
Dyncorp said on its official website it is helping "to train a new, modern army", "designed to serve a democratic nation".
Recruitment started in January and was open to all Liberians — including members of the former AFL — aged between 18 and 45 years.
Successful applicants underwent rigorous physical and aptitude tests, before their backgrounds were checked for any previous records of human rights violations.
Under a 1996 Abuja peace deal on Liberia which saw a brief lull in fighting, Liberia's army was supposed to have been re-trained years ago by the military wing of the Economic Community of West African States.
The plan, however, fell through after ex-president Charles Taylor — who relied on his militia groups — won the 1997 elections.
Dyncorp has in recent years helped the US government to train civilian police units in Afghanistan, Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo and Iraq, according to the website.
The US government has maintained close links with Liberia, Africa's oldest republic founded in 1847 by freed American slaves.
