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WAR AND STATE COLLAPSE: THE CASE OF SIERRA LEONE Lansana Gberie B.A. Hons., Fourah Bay College University of Sierra Leone, 1994 A THESIS Submitted to the Deparbnent of History Wilfrid Laurier University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree 1997 Copyright Lansana Gberie IW7@ National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, nie WeIlington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 OüawaON K1AON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant i la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of îhe L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des e*aits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT This thesis examines the crises of war and state coilapse in the West Afncan state of Sierra Leone, which has been devastated by a civil rebeliion which began ostensibIy as med incursions from neighbouring war-tom Liberia in 199 1. It criticaiiy examines curent Iiterature on the crises, including Robert Kaplan's use of the country as a case saidy for his views on the "coming anarchy", and concludes that the dynarnics of the country's collapse are far less mysterious and more pedestrian than the spurious environmental and cultural essentiaiism which Kaplan ascribes to it. The thesis argues that the failure of the Sierra Leonean state must be understood in tetms of the failure of the political leadership since the advent of President Siaka Stevens h 1968 and his imposition of a one-party state in 1978. Steven's brand of one-party rule succeeded in subverting the state's institutional capacity and undermined respect for institutions of the state. Particular attention is paid to the development of the "Shadow State", and the subsequent failure of society to meet the basic demands of its citizens, especiaily the ability to provide meaningful and renumerative work for educated and voiatiïe youth. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction ................... 2. Chapter One. ................... The " Encircling Gloom?" 3. Chapter Two .................... One Pa* and the Shadow Stace 4. Chapter Three ................... The Coming Anarchy? 5. Chapter Four .................... Anarchy or War? 6. Conclusion ..................... 134 7. Appendices ...................... 151-157 8. Bibliography ...................... 158-165 PREFACE The West African nation of Sierra Leone has been in a state of war since armed incursions from neighbouring Liberia triggered a civil rebeliion in 1991. The war has led to the death of more than 15,000 in a country of 4.5 million people, the displacernent of a third of the population, the destruction of more than a third of the country's villages and tom, and the collapse of almost aii formal state institutions. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the recent history of Sierra Leone in the hope of better understanding the origins and development of the civil rebeliion. It wilI offer a critical examination of the current literahire on the crisis, especially Robert Kaplan's use of the country as a bellwether for his views on the "coming anarchy". The ahis to offer a mundane but historically accurate expianation of the rebeilion and the collapse of the Sierra Leonean state. My own interest in studying the war, beyond the bewiidement and outrage of almost every Sierra Leonean at what was commonly referred to as a "senseless war",began when 1 took up appointment as a journalist on the editorial board of the Vision newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and then later as correspondent for the inter Press Service (ES) News Agency, shortly after graduating from Fourah Bay ColIege (FBC) with a degree in history in 1994. My job required me to travel extensively throughout the country, and report the war. Needless to say, this was an incredibly diffïcult assignment. This was a war without fiontlines: the insurgent forces could pop up anywhere and cause extensive destruction to -3 iv civilian settlements, and then emerge somewhere else, to cause more destruction. The wantonness of such attacks suggested a lack of serious politicd, never rnind ideological, motive; but it seemed to me to be a bit outlandish to suggest, as David Keen, who visited the country from England to evaluate the relief needs of people displaced by the war, did in 1995, that the war was al1 about making money "while it lasts and, moreover, to ensure that it Iasts long enough to make serious money"'. Resource rich as the counfry was, there wasn't much money to be made in most of the areas that the rebels attacked and sacked. In any case, for any serious money to be made out of resource exploitation, the rebeis needed to hoId on to si@icant territory for a reasonably long period of the. This they failed to do. Yet they persisted with their campaigns for more than five years. What was driving them to these inhuman actions? Why was the state so miserably incapable of effectively chaiienging and haiting the brigandage? Who were the men behind these faceless forces of destruction? For two years, 1 îried in vain to grappte with these disturbing questions. 1 had many interviews with villagers who survived rebel attacks; with soldiers who were engaged in combating the rebels; with government officiais who were involved in decision making relating to the war; and even with captured members of the rebel forces. The accounts 1 got were no doubt useful, but hardly satisfactory. Most were self-serving. Then in April 1996, 1 had the opportunity of meeting, and interviewing, the shadowy leader of the rebels, Foday Saybanoh Sankoh, who emerged from his mysterious bush enclaves to begin serious taks with the Freetown government. The interview, in the hory Coast, was quite long and üluminating, 'David Keen, "WarWithout Battles-The Strange Case of Sierra Leone", Unpublished paper, 1995 (in author's possession). v not so much by what he said, but what he could not Say. Througbout the interview, Sankoh was clear about what he and his men did not want, but hardly about what he wanted. Even the proposais he put forward to the Freetown govemment as the basis for negotiations amounted to desires, not demands, and there seemed a phoneyness about the entire peace process which was chiilhg because of the importance attached to it by the traumatised nation. It was even worse taiking to other officials of the RUF who were, however senior their ranks proclaimed them, simply functionaries. Sankoh seemed to be the ernbodiment and arbiter of the "struggle"; and just how this barely literate ex-my photographer came to hold such a sway on the desMy of a nation of 4.5 miilion souis was a thoroughly intriguing phenornenon for me. 1 had an opportunity to reflect on al1 these matters when 1 came over to Wiifrid Laurier University to study for an MA in history in October 1996, but especially after taking the War and Society course taught by Professor Terry Copp who agreed to supervise this thesis. A scholar of conventional wars, Professor Copp's penerrating insights into the nature of wars, States and societies, and the motivations of men to fight and die, however, prepared me to try and understand the rebel war in Sierra Leone, perhaps the apotheosis of the uncoaventional war, as an historian not simply as a participant observer. 1 was also helped by communications with other schotars who have studied the war and have written about it. In this regard, 1 am particularly grateful to Ibrahim Abdullah, a Sierra Leonean professor of history at the Illinois State University, Yusuf Bangura, who directs research at the United Nation's office in Geneva, Switzerland, rny mate and colleague, Ismail Rashid, a Ph.D candidate at Mcgill and Patrick Muana, also a Ph.D candidate at Sheffield University, England. 1 am aIso grateful to Paul Richards, a professor of anthropology at the vi University of London and a scholar who has written extensively about the war, for his encouragement and advice. in personai communications with him, we shared ideas about the nature of the conflict, but as will emerge from this thesis, 1disagree with him on a number of key points. 1 tended to agree more with the views of Professor Abdullah, which he so well articulated in a forthcornhg publication, "Bush paths to Destructionn, fvst published on the internet discussion forum for Sierra Leoneans, Leonenet, about the composition and nature of the RUF. Indeed, a large number of the articles that 1 utilised in writing this thesis were obtained from Leonenet. One particuiar discussion, about the nature and character of the people who dominate the RUF, proved especiaily important. It began with Yusuf Bangura's review of Paul Richards' Fighting for the Rainforest, the first scholarly treatment of the war in book form. Dr. Bangura's review provided a discussion which 1 was able to contribute to and which continues to this day. Other colleagues on Leonenet who encouraged and assisted me in various forms are Saffa Kemokai (in New Jersey), Cecil Blake, a professor of mass communications at Indiana State University, and Peter Dumbuya of the Tuskegee University.

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