LIBERIA: Civil War and the Complications SALWs Proliferation (original) (raw)
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Combatants, patrons, peacemakers, and the Liberian civil conflict
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 1992
The paper examines the various major actors in the Liberian civil conflict, the impact of the conflict, and the efforts to resolve it peacefully. First, the major combatants are identified as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, the major insurgency movement, the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia, the breakaway faction from the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, and the Armed Forces of Liberia, the remnants of the Liberian army that supported the Doe regime. Second, the external players are the Economic Community of West African States, Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, Libya, Burkina Faso, and the United States. The conflict is the by‐product of the perennial problems of socioeconomic underdevelopment and political repression that have undergirded the Liberian polity since the country became independent in 1847. Accordingly, in order to resolve the conflict completely, concerted efforts must be made to address these problems. In other words, the cessation of military ho...
A Legacy of War? Perceptions of Security in Liberia
The Liberia Armed Violence Assessment is an initiative administered by the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project of the Graduate Institute of international and Development studies in Geneva. In collaboration with the Liberian Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) and Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), the Small Arms Survey administered a household survey in all 15 counties in 2010. The survey considered respondents’ perceptions of security and victimization, exposure to violence, behavioural responses to threats in communities, and an analysis of instruments of violence.
Post-War Security Sector Reform in Liberia
Post-War Security Sector Reform in Liberia, 2021
This book is a unique collection of analyses by experts on security sector reform in Liberia and beyond. All contributors have worked for years in Liberia and been concerned with the matter in sectors ranging from the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and Government to Civil Society and Academia. The publication thus brings together insider experiences and reflections from various perspectives. It covers a range of topics and presents a comprehensive picture of major issues in security sector reform. An introductory chapter outlines the debate and reflects on the University’s contribution to reform. The Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation (KAICT) at the University of Liberia is a nodal point in sharing, creating and disseminating knowledge on security sector reform, and the authors have engaged in joint reflection and discussion for many years. The book further analyzes developments in the core issue areas of the National Security Strategy, rebuilding of the armed forces, security sector legislation, civilian-security actor relations, reflecting on the state of reform, and progress and limits thereof.
The Bane of Peacebuilding: Appraising Problems of Small Arms Control in Liberia 1989-2016
Kuduna Journal of Humanities, 2018
The proliferation of small arms and light weapons did not pose a challenge prior to the Liberian Civil War. The events leading to the war and subsequently 14 years of near continues conflict created a demand base for a huge amount of small arms and light weapons to flood the country. Attempts at restricting the flow of weapons during and after the conflict represent the central thesis this research seeks to investigate. A theoretical overview of gun control is first situated within the discourse, followed by an interrogation of the problems encountered in all the phases of disarmament exercises conducted to rid Liberia of illicit weapons. The comparative method of analyzing the processes and results of weapons collection programs and Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) exercises affords a clear understanding of the challenges faced by small arms control in Liberia. These problems pose a critical challenge to the process of peacebuilding after the conflict in Liberia. The paper examines all the associated problems of small arms control from conflict resources to a proper legal framework. The paper argues that the cessation of hostilities did not necessarily ensure a peaceful society. One of the culprit for the high levels of insecurity in present day Liberia is the problems faced by small arms control.
Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies, 2022
Before the 1990s, the practice of post-conflict management mainly focused on military and law-enforcement priorities. Since then, a development-oriented approach has evolved by making a greater sense of the better addressing of the root causes and characteristics of conflicts, as well as the needs and motivations of actors and individuals. In the same vein, critical approaches to the traditionally „minimalist” approach suggested a relatively new, community-based practice that may help to better understand the complex political, psychological and economic situation in local terms to enhance the efficiency of reintegration of former combatants and make them socially and politically represented after conflicts end.At the same time, according to Mary Kaldor’s theory, we have witnessed meaningful qualitative changes regarding the nature of armed conflicts which pose vital challenges to the Westphalian international system as they reshape the concept of sovereignty and question the state monopoly on violence. Proponents of the “new war” thesis argue that such qualitative changes in wars also necessitate a fundamental shift from the traditional peacebuilding approaches. In Kaldor’s view, as a consequence of the rapid globalisation during the 1990s and the never-ending erosion of state sovereignty a fundamentally new theoretical framework is needed in the course of peace operations which is entirely different from the former so-called „liberal peace”. Thus, the new characteristics of wars pointed out by Kaldor may have a great significance in how peacebuilding and DDR programmes should be planned and implemented in post-conflict settlements.In this analysis the question is how the failure of traditional disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes and the prospective new generation of them reflect to „new wars” theories, particularly to Kaldor’s thesis, so what connections they may have, if any. The author makes this search through a Liberian case study. The focal points of the analysis include: actors (1); motivations and goals (2); brutality and the victimisation of the civilians (3); and economic and financial characteristics (4).
MILITARY INTERVENTION IN AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF LIBERIA
Africa holds an enviable, if not dubious, record of experiencing the highest number of conflicts in the word (SIPRI yearbook, 1999). While Africa accounted for 13 percent of all civil wars in the 1980’s, it was host to 35 percent of world’s conflicts by the beginning of the 21st century (Walter, 2011). Consequently, the continent is riddled with insecurity and danger, which together pose various threats to peace. A daunting challenge facing the continent, and in particular the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is promoting peace, in most cases, accelerating post-conflict reconstruction and development. The negative impacts of conflicts are all too familiar to be recounted. Suffice it to say that the world Bank (2011) notes that “the average cost of a civil war is equivalent to more than 30 years of GDP for a medium-sized developing country.” However, the recent most common approach to peace has been the use of military intervention, which takes the form of peace-making or peace-building. Since 1990, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has resorted to employing military intervention forces as a major part of its conflict resolution mechanism. These interventions have created an atmosphere conducive for diplomatic means to be employed to resolve conflicts in the West African sub-region. The ECOWAS intervention force, known as the ECOWAS cease-fire monitoring Group (ECOMOG), is a non-standing force whose troops are contributed by West African militaries. ECOMOG has intervened in intrastate conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and . Even though these interventions did little to eradicate the root cause of the conflicts in these countries, the interventions halted the carnage and created an atmosphere of peace to be restored and political dialogue to begin. In particular, the ECOMOG operation in Liberia has been widely acclaimed as one of the successful and precedented in the history of peacekeeping (Dowyaro 2000; 7). The Liberian crisis started as an entirely ethnic conflict involving the indigenous ethnic Liberians, who constitute the majority of the population and the Afro-American settlers who were settled in Liberia following the abolition of slave trade in America, and who had dominated the political scene of the country since their arrival in 1822. The Liberian crisis escalated in 1980 when Samuel Doe staged a coup that brought the ethnic majority of the Liberian to power. The conflict assumed a wider dimension following the involvement of other extraneous forces around Liberians, a situation which the ECOWAS leaders thought would lead to the war spreading to other countries in the sub-region. However, the main aim of this research work is to undercover the mystery underlying military intervention in Liberia as well as elucidate on the role of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), the role of the United States and most importantly Nigeria. The Nigeria Military Government at the time, in its perceived attempt to stop the war, initiated and led a military intervention in the country predominantly using the Nigerian Army. Realist are of the view that Nigerian’s military involvement was to defend her national interest by restoring peace to Liberia through a consensual multilateral mechanism. The theory of frustration-aggression is used in analyzing the theoretical framework of this research as it was observed by it precursors that when a society is being deprived of certain things, the only way it could express it bottled up frustration is through violence. The findings of the study are that, first, the military troops sent by ECOMOG was for peace-keeping (though they later changed to peace-enforcing) instead of governance of the country which they are normally known for. The study suggests the need for national and cautious use of the mechanism of military intervention by nation-states in their international behavior; and recommends further research in the study area possibly from other theoretical perspectives in order to fill any perceived gaps in knowledge in the existing literature on Military Intervention in Africa: A case study of Liberia.
2014
This review uncovered a medium amount of literature analysing conflict and peace actors and dynamics in Liberia. This ranges from a few macro-level conflict analysis papers (often produced or funded by international actors, NGOs, or think tanks) to a wealth of literature at the meso-and micro-levels of analysis that focus on particular conflict issues (e.g. conflict over land, or security sector reform). The latter papers are produced by the same types of actors, but also by academics. There is a limited amount of literature that directly identifies sources of or capacities for peace in Liberia.