Expeditionary· West Africa NEO Operations
Op SHINING EXPRESS
Operation Shining Express was a Marine deployment to Liberia during the renewed civil war and the crisis around Monrovia, mounted to protect American interests and support the international effort to end the fighting as the country's long agony reached another peak.
Marines reinforced the United States embassy and established a security presence as the capital came under siege and the humanitarian situation deteriorated, the deployment lending weight to the diplomatic push for a ceasefire and the arrival of peacekeepers. The Marines secured American facilities and personnel and provided the offshore and ashore presence that backed the broader effort to stabilize Liberia, operating in a tense environment where armed factions and renewed violence persisted. The operation was a security and stabilization mission rather than sustained combat, one of the recurring Marine interventions in Liberia across more than a decade. Shining Express contributed to the pressure that helped move the civil war toward its resolution and the deployment of a peacekeeping force.
Engagements in this conflict (1)
Record no. 826