SWEET BATTLEFIELDS Youth and the Liberian Civil War
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SWEET BATTLEFIELDS Youth and the Liberian Civil War By Mats Utas Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Anthropology pre- sented at Uppsala University, 2003. ABSTRACT Utas, M. 2003. Sweet Battlefields: Youth and the Liberian Civil War. Uppsala University Dissertations in Cultural Anthropology, 1. 288 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 91-506-1677-3. This dissertation presents an ethnography of youth in Liberia and of how their lives became affected by a civil war which raged in the country between 1990 and 1997. The focus is on the experiences, motivations, and reflections of young combatants who fought for a variety of rebel factions. For these young people, the daily prospect of poverty, joblessness and marginalisation effectively blocked the paths to a normal adulthood; drawing them instead into a subculture of liminality, characterised by abjection, resentment and rootlessness. As opportunity came, their voluntary enlist- ment into one of the several rebel armies of the civil war therefore became an attrac- tive option for many. Based upon one year of fieldwork during 1998, conducted among groups of ex-combatant youths in both the capital Monrovia and in a provin- cial town in the rural hinterland, I describe and analyse the young people’s own accounts of their involvement in the civil war; their complicity in atrocities, their coping strategies in the context of armed conflict, their position as ex-combatants in a post-war environment, and their outlook on their past, present and future. Keywords: Liberia, anthropology, civil war, youth, children, child soldiers, street children, conflict, violence, women in war, West Africa. Mats Utas, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Uppsala University, Trädgårdsg. 18, SE-75309 Uppsala, Sweden. © Mats Utas 2003 ISSN 1651-7601 ISBN 91-506-1677-3 Typesetting: Gonzalo Morrison, blimp design. Printed in Sweden by: Lindblom & Co, Stockholm 2003 Distributor: Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Uppsala University CONTENTS Acknowledgements 1 Chapter one Introduction 5 Chapter two Entering the field 49 Chapter three War as initiation into adulthood 85 Chapter four The logic of violent measures 119 Chapter five Young women in the war 169 Chapter six Reintegration or remarginalisation? 223 Epilogue The tactic Taylor 251 Bibliography 259 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The hardship of writing this thesis has been outbalanced by the intense friendships I have established in the process. Despite the sinister research topic, my fieldwork in Liberia was mostly an experience of joy. This was due in no small part to the many kindly and hospitable people I encountered there. I particularly want to thank all those young Liberians who opened their lives to me in order to let me study them—an often awkward situation. In Monrovia, thanks to all of you in the Palace. Thanks for putting so much trust in me (okay you eventually let me down). I will not mention you by name because of your sensitive life predicaments, but you were my first guides in street life and combatant reality. You opened the door. In Monrovia, I would also like to thank Anthony Kollie, Ansu Cole, Beyan Sharp, Michael Gilman, Sam Lomax, Sony, Gbegbe, Shady, Puffy, Tommy Garnett, Dennis Toe, Hans Lindqvist, BB Colley (and later) William Saa, Sekou Konneh (not the LURD rebel leader), Danny Deanneh, Father Joe Brown, Emanuel Sandberg, Joseph Cooper for your friendship and assistance. In Ganta I owe most thanks to Paul and his friends who really made me a part of their peer network. Our profound discussions have been absolutely central to this dissertation. Paul and Paul, Tao, Alex, Executive (Thomas), Mentor, Christopher, Isaac, Joe—thank you! I came to Ganta with Umu, my wife, her cousin Finda and Finda’s son MAB. Umu aided me by interviewing young women and girls who had been combatants, or girlfriends of combatants. Her work was 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS instrumental, as I lacked the cultural capital to enter into such in- depth discussions with young women. Whilst we were busy in the field, Finda steered us through domestic workloads typical to semi- rural life. We enjoyed the hospitality of Pa Alfred who provided us with two rooms in his house situated right on the main road. In addition to Pa Alfred I would like to thank Karamoko Sheriff, Oldma, Gho Hawa, Oldman, Alfred, Djebe, Hawa, Mammy, Georgie, Lewis, Vera, Seyma and others for sharing their backyard, well, latrine, bucket shower, cooking facilities as well as the great time together. I am also grateful to Harry Gaye, David Parker, Harry Carson and his lovely family, Mr. Venn and family, Oldman (John) Batu and the Reverend Nya Zuagele. A special thought also goes to Macabe. At the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, the University of Uppsala, Sweden, I am particularly indebted to Bernhard Helander. He was the one who first coaxed me into becoming a doctoral student and later became my supervisor. Sadly, he passed away before the completion of this dissertation. Bernhard, wherever you are, I hope you will appreciate this work as carried out in your spirit. I also would like to thank my new supervisor Jan Ovesen for his swift aid and commitment at the final stage. Many others at the department have meant a lot for the gradual maturing of my anthropological thinking. The participants of the Living Beyond Conflict Seminar (LBC) have also all in some way or another contributed to this work. In particular I would like to thank Sten Hagberg, Awa Ba and Sverker Finnström for reading and commenting on this manuscript. The chapters have been presented at various stages and in different settings: I would like to thank all of those who have commented on 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS them. In particular I would like to thank Jo Boyden and Paul Richards for their comments on Chapter 2. The chapter is based on an article published in Children and youth on the frontline: ethnography, armed conflict and displacement, edited by Jo Boyden and Jo de Berry: (Berghahn Books). I wish to thank Phillippe Bourgois, Mary Moran and Ebrima Sall for their comments on what finally became Chapter 4. Ann Whitehead, Filip De Boeck, Alcinda Honwana and the entire CODESRIA 2001 gender institute, for comments on Chapter 5. The chapter is based on a forthcoming article in Makers and Breakers; Made and Broken: Children and Youth as Emerging Categories in Postcolonial Africa, edited by Alcinda Honwana and Filip De Boeck (James Currey & the University of Chicago Press). Finally I wish to thank Paul Richards for his comments on Chapter 6. This chapter is based on an article in the forthcoming book No Peace, No War: Ethnographic Essays on Contemporary Armed Conflicts, edited by Paul Richards and Bernhard Helander (James Currey and Ohio University Press). In the early stages of formulating the project, Filip De Boeck functioned as an external supervisor and a great source of inspiration. My friend and colleague Johan Lindquist has not only inspired me to venture into broader layers of anthropology, but has also scrutinised most chapters of this thesis at different stages. Bo Utas, my father, has read and commented on the entire manuscript—I am fortunate having a father like you. At a final stage I have also had the opportunity to have Michael Jackson read and comment on the final manuscript. Thank you for your sharp eyes and grand organisational mind. In addition to these people there are many with which I have discussed my material and who thus have inspired and encouraged me 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS in a variety of ways, at times changing my paths of thinking. Some of these include James Ferguson, Carolyn Nordstrom, Peter Loizos, Isak Niehaus, Beryl Bellman, William Reno, Mike McGovern and Peter Crawford. I also wish to express my gratitude to Ian Dent for correcting my language in the final manuscript and Gonzalo Morrison for his layout work. Although the above mentioned persons all have aided me tremendously, I am myself responsibly for all errors that might occur in this dissertation. Fieldwork was generously sponsored by Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse, Humanistisk-Samhällsvetenskapliga Forskningsrådet (HSFR), Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Stiftelsen Lars Hiertas Minne, Vegafonden (SSAG). I dedicate this work to Edwin, Umu and a tiny one, soon to be born. Mats Utas Uppsala, April 2003 4 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION My opening contact with the much-mystified Liberian ‘child soldier’ was in 1996 and happened to be at the very spot where the Liberian Civil War had started in late 1989. On Christmas Eve 1989 a small group of insurgents trained in Libya and Burkina Faso had crossed over the Cavally River entering Liberia from the Ivory Coast. This first battle in fact took place in Butoe, just a few kilometres from the same border crossing to which I had now walked. Surrounded by a lush green landscape, I sat down under the shadow of a large cotton tree on the Ivorian side of the Cavally River. On the opposite side, in battle-weary Liberia, a Lada Niva car which had clearly seen better days, was parked and a small group of young, armed militia had gathered nearby around a cooking fire. As I looked across the river I could observe how their curiosity was mounting. What was the white man doing on the other side? And indeed it did not take long until a few of the boys jumped into a canoe and crossed the river. As they walked up the bank I was immediately struck by the way they walked; the over-explicit body language and the clothing they wore clearly being inspired less by local convention than by US inner city hip-hop/rap culture. Watching them, I became for a moment transported back to scenes from the youth club in Sweden where I had previously undertaken research for my MA.