New Ideas in History:

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• New Ideas in History
• CONFLICT, VIOLENCE, THE ROAD BACK TO PEACE
• Holmes Student Center, DeKalb, IllinoisMonday,
  October 6, 2008

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• The Political Economy of War and Peace Mediation
  in West Africa
  
• Presented by
• Abu Bakarr Bah, Ph.D.
• Assistant Professor
• Department of Sociology
• Northern Illinois University

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Source CPJ http//www.cpj.org/Briefings/2000/Beko
utou/map.html

• Map of West Africa

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West Africa and the End of the Cold War

• Economic Reforms
• Democratization
• Civil Wars

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Economic Reforms

• 1980s and severe economic problems and debts
• IMF Structural Adjustment Programs/neo-Liberal
  economic philosophy
  
• IMF Conditions cut in government programs
  (education, agriculture, etc.), layoff of civil
  servants, political reform toward democracy
  
• Inflation, devaluation of CFA Franc, rise in cost
  of living and dramatic decline in living
  standard). Protest over living conditions.

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Democratization

• One party and military regimes
• Suppression of political freedom
• Student protest, civil societyespecially
  religious organizationprotest against government
  corruption (late 1980s-early 1990s)
  
• Western governments pressure for democratic
  reforms
  
• Fall of the eastern bloc
• Governments agreed to political reforms leading
  to multiparty democracy
  
• Reluctance and manipulation of the democratic
  reforms.

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Civil Wars

• Collapse of the democratic reforms
• Liberia 1989-1996 and 1999-2003
• Sierra Leone 1991-2002
• Cote dIvoire series of political crises
  beginning in 1993 after the death of President
  Houphouet-Boigny and escalated into a rebellion
  in 2002. Peace restored in 2007, but the
  political issues are still not fully resolved
• Interconnections in the wars

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Other Countries in the Region

• Many countries had serious political crises
  during the 1990s, including Nigeria, Guinea,
  Guinea Bissau, and Togo.

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Success Stories

• Some countries made successful political and/or
  economic transitions, such as Ghana, Benin, and
  Senegal.

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Historical Background Liberia

• Resettlement of a small group of emancipated
  American Blacks to Monrovia in 1822,
  
• 1847 independence and establishment of a strong
  Americo-Liberian hegemony
  
• One party democracy until the first military coup
  in 1980
  
• Ethnic configuration America-Liberians and
  numerous indigenous groups
  
• Strong US involvement in the rubber economy and
  foreign policy ally

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Historical Background Sierra Leone

• Repatriated slaves from the New World sent to SL
  in 1787
  
• Colonized by Britain in 1808
• Gained independence in 1961
• Ruled my the SLPP and the APC
• Military interventions during the 1960s and
  1990s
  
• Diamond mining economy
• Sixteen ethnic groups

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Historical Background Cote dIvoire

• French colony since 1842
• Gained independence in 1960
• Developed a strong relation with France
• Made significant economic development
• Ruled by Houphouet-Boigny from 1960 to 1993
• Sixty indigenous ethnic groups, grouped into four
  major cultural groups Akan, Kru, Voltaic, and
  Mandé
  
• North-South regional divide
• Huge immigrant population dating back to the
  colonial era.

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Nature of the Conflicts Political Issues

• Bad governance and corruption
• Ethnic marginalization
• Ivorian nationalism/citizenship
• Poverty and youth unemployment

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Nature of the Conflicts Actors

• Charles Taylor (NPFL)
• Samuel Doe/Khran supporters
• Alhaji Kromah (LURD, MODEL)
• Foday Sankoh (RUF)
• President Momoh
• Captain Strasser
• President Kabbah
• New Forces(Guillaume Soro)
• President Laurent Gbagbo
• President Houphouet-Boigny
• Libya and Burkina Fasso
• France

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Nature of the Conflicts Motivating Factors

• Power ambitions
• Diamond exploitation
• Regional politics
• Vested economic and political interests of
  foreign powers

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Nature of the Conflict Human Suffering

• Refugees and IDPs
• Deaths
• Sexual violence
• Abductions
• Drugging
• Amputations
• Xenophobia

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International Peace Mediation

• Regional and global security
• Economic impacts and cost of humanitarian
  disasters
  
• Credibility of UN and other international bodies
• Moral obligation of former colonial powers
• Emerging regional powers and the need to assert
  leadership (Nigeria and South Africa)
  
• ECOWAS, UN, Britain, Nigeria, Ghana, South
  Africa, France, United States

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Major Peace Agreements

• Sierra Leone 1999 Lome Peace Agreement
• Liberia 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement in
  Ghana exile and arrest of Charles Taylor (2003)
  
• Cote dIvoire Linas-Marcoussis Agreement (2003)
  Pretoria Accord (2005) Ouagadougou Accord
  (2007)
  
• Transitional governments and elections

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The Current Situation

• Sierra Leone Peaceful, democracy restored,
  rebuilding the economy, UN withdrawing
  
• Liberia Peaceful, fragile democracy, integration
  of refugees and combatants, rebuilding the
  economy, UN still heavily involved
  
• Cote dIvoire Fragile peace, Ivorian driven
  peace process, working toward election,
  disarmament, identification issue, and permanent
  solution

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Lessons for the International Community

• Interconnectedness of the world moral,
  political, economic, and security
  
• The need for clear moral boundaries in
  international law
  
• Peace building holding actors accountable,
  cultural sensitivity to imperialism, leadership,
  and unambiguous moral and political goals
  
• The importance of regional organization in peace
  building

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Resources Online

• Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission
  http//www.trcsierraleone.org
  
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia
  https//www.trcofliberia.org
  
• The Special Court for Sierra Leone
  http//www.sc-sl.org
  
• International Court of Justice (ICJ)
  http//www.icj-cij.org
  
• UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
  http//www.unhcr.org
  
• UN Peacekeeping http//www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/
  
  
• United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
  http//www.unmil.org

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Resources Online

• Opération des Nations Unies en Côte d'Ivoire
  (ONUCI) http//www.onuci.org/
  
• United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone
  (UNIOSIL) http//www.uniosil.org
  
• Economic Community of West African States
  (ECOWAS) http//www.ecowas.int
  
• International Center for Transitional Justice
  http//www.ictj.org
  
• United States Institute of Peace
  http//www.usip.org
  
• BBC News http//news.bbc.co.uk
• AllAfrica Global Media http//allafrica.com

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Resources Journal articles

• Abraham, Arthur.2001. Dancing with the
  Chameleon Sierra Leone and the Elusive Quest for
  Peace. Journal of Contemporary African Studies
  19, 2 205-228.
• Amos Sawyer. Violent Conflicts and Governance
  Challenges in West Africa the Case of the Mano
  River Basin Area, The Journal of Modern African
  Studies, 42(3), September 2004, 437-463
• Aning, Emmanuel Kwesi. 2003. Regulating Illicit
  Trade in Natural Resources The Role of Regional
  Actors in West Africa. Review of African
  Political Economy, 30, 95 99-107.
• Boas, Morten. 2001. Liberia and Sierra
  Leone-Dead Ringers? The Logic of Neo-patrimonial
  Rule. In Third World Quarterly, 22, 5 697-723.
  
• Ellis, Stephen, 1995. Liberia 1989 1994 A
  Study of Ethnic and Spiritual Violence. In
  African Affairs, 94 165-197.
  
• Francis, David J. 2000. Torturous Path to Peace
  The Lome Accord and Postwar Peace building in
  Sierra Leone. Security Dialogue, 31 357-373.
  
• Gershoni, Yekutiel. 1997. War without End and an
  End to a War The Prolonged Wars in Liberia and
  Sierra Leone. African Studies Review, 40, 3.
  
• O'Neill, William. 1993. Liberia An Avoidable
  Tragedy. Current History, 92 574.

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Resources Books

• Adekeye Adebajo and Ismail Rashid (eds.). West
  Africas security challenges building peace in a
  troubled region. Lynne Rienner Publishers, c2004
  
• Bah, Abu Bakarr. Breakdown and Reconstitution
  Democracy, the Nation-State, and Ethnicity in
  Nigeria. Lanham, MD Lexington Books, 2005.
  
• Bah, Abu Bakarr. Ethnic Conflicts and Management
  Strategies in Bulgaria, Sierra Leone and
  Nigeria. Programme on Ethnic and Federal Studies
  Monograph New Series, No. 3. Ibadan, Nigeria
  John Archers Publishers, 2003.
• Beah, Ishmael. 2007. A Long Way Gone Memoirs of
  a Boy Soldier. New York Farrar, Straus and
  Giroux.
  
• Davidson, Basil. 1992. The Black Mans Burden
  Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State. New
  York Times Books.
  
• Francis, David. The politics of economic
  regionalism Sierra Leone in ECOWAS. Burlington,
  VT Aldershot, 2001.
  
• Gberie, Lansana. 2005. A Dirty War in West
  Africa The RUF and the Destruction of Sierra
  Leone. Bloomington, Ind. Indiana University
  Press.
• Lori Fisler Damrosch (ed.) Enforcing restraint
  collective intervention in internal conflicts.
  New York Council on Foreign Relations Press
  
• Wiseman, John. 1996. The New Struggle for
  Democracy in Africa. Aldershot, England
  Brookfield.