UNLocK Liberia Turning the Page on Charles Taylor April - August 2012 Founded in 1957, the Fund for Peace is an independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization that works to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable security. We promote sustainable security through research, training and education, engagement of civil society, building bridges across diverse sectors, and developing innovative technologies 55th Anniversary 1957-2012 and tools for policy makers. A leader in the conflict assessment and early warning field, the Fund for Peace focuses on the problems of weak and failing states. Our objective is to create practical tools and approaches for conflict mitigation that are useful to decision-makers. Copyright © 2012 The Fund for Peace. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent from The Fund for Peace. The Fund for Peace Conflict Early Warning and Assessment Produced in partnership with Liberia Democracy Watch UNLocK Reports Series Editors Kendall Lawrence Nate Haken Patricia Taft Report Written by Nóra Loncsár The Fund for Peace Publication FFP : CULRR1214 (Version 11E) Circulation: PUBLIC The Fund for Peace 1720 I Street NW 7th Floor Washington, D.C. 20006 T: +1 202 223 7940 F: +1 202 223 7947 www.fundforpeace.org www.fundforpeace.org 2 The Fund for Peace UNLocK Liberia Bomi and Grand Gedeh Introduction On April 26, 2012, the International is very high. In the absence of the rule of law, Methodology 4 Criminal Court convicted Liberia’s former mobs and communities take justice into their National Level Analysis 5 president Charles Taylor for his role in the own hands. At the border with Côte d’Ivoire commission of crimes against humanity (from whence Taylor originally launched his Indicator Trends 6 during the war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. rebellion against Doe) armed groups and County-Level Analysis 7 For Sierra Leone, this brought a dark chapter mercenaries are reportedly active at the local Looking Ahead 10 to a close — and for Liberia as well. level. Sustainable human security has not yet About The Fund for Peace 11 taken hold in Liberia. As the United Nations From 1989 to 1990, Charles Taylor and Prince Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) continues to draw About Liberia Democracy Watch 11 Johnson fought to overthrow then-president down, the continued weakness of the police Samuel Doe. After Johnson captured and and army has raised real concerns over killed Doe (sipping a Budweiser as he whether the government is ready to take chopped off his ears), he and Taylor fought a ownership of the country’s security when the The second-most frequently reported bloody war for control of Monrovia. Taylor mission finally departs. category of incidents between April and eventually took power, but the country was August, 2012, was Pressures on Effective plunged into a civil war that lasted until 2003 This report is not a comprehensive political Governance. By many accounts, corruption is when peacekeepers were deployed and risk assessment of the likelihood of conflict a big problem in Liberia. Cases of corruption Taylor was exiled to Nigeria. onset in Liberia. Rather, it is a snapshot of the by public security forces and government— priorities and concerns of a local civil society to include embezzlement, nepotism, Researchers from The Fund for Peace (FFP) network living in communities across mismanagement of development funds and and Liberia Democracy Watch (LDW) were Liberia’s 15 counties. Over the last five years, malfeasance in the justice system—were present in Gbarnga, Taylor’s erstwhile base of this network has been regularly taking the widely recorded. Recently, Laymah Gbowee, operations, for a conflict assessment pulse of the country, gathering and coding the fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate of Ellen workshop on the day of the conviction. Riot incidents that indicate the risk of human Johnson Sirleaf, decided to leave the police and UNMIL forces were deployed en insecurity from their point of view. This government claiming that the President masse, standing by in the event of protest. report reflects the social, economic, political, failed to adequately tackle the issue of However, time had apparently passed Taylor and security factors that must be managed corruption in her government. 3 President by. People went about their businesses. “It’s for a peaceful and prosperous future. Sirleaf has been accused of nepotism in the over,” one person said. past, when three of her sons were allocated The most frequently reported category of prominent government positions. Charles Taylor’s chapter may be closed but incidents between April and August was Additionally, after a steady improvement on the echoes of history still remain a decade Insecurity (which includes murder, assault, the Corruption Perceptions Index, in 2011 after the end of the war. Prince Johnson is robbery, rape, and violent protests, as well as Liberia’s score worsened for the first time now Senator of Nimba County. The same attacks by public security forces and armed since 2007. 4 Further indicative of challenges ethnic tensions that contributed to the gangs). These concerns over human security with respect to state legitimacy and effective outbreak of war still exist today. For much of highlight the weaknesses of the Liberian governance, there were numerous protests the country beyond Monrovia, the National Police, which lacks the capacity, and strikes throughout the country in government is a faint and distant idea. Basic financial resources and personnel to response to various issues, including land infrastructure and public services are few. effectively deal with the current security and grabbing, police checkpoints, low salaries and According to the October 2012 report of the evolving security concerns. There is only one the perceived unlawful detention of International Monetary Fund, Liberia is the police officer for every 850 Liberian citizens suspects. fifth poorest country in the world. 1 and the visibility of the national police is Unemployment, especially among the youth, especially low in rural areas. 2 The third-most often reported category of www.fundforpeace.org 3 The Fund for Peace Introduction incidents related to human rights violations. There are also land disputes between Furthermore, this latter type of conflict Sexual violence (particularly the rape of individuals and between communities. One frequently has an ethnic dimension, since — children and teenage girls) and abuses of the main sources of these disputes is the given the dynamics of the Liberian civil war committed by teachers, were among the most complex legal systems that govern land — the ex-combatants and returnees often often documented cases. Other human rights ownership in Liberia, as the same piece of belong to different ethnic groups. For related incidents in this reporting period land often falls under both customary and instance, in Nimba County, the Gio and Mano included domestic violence, violation of the statutory law, creating competing claims of people fought on the side of former rights of the accused and forced ownership. These cases are hard to settle as President Charles Taylor, while those who displacement. most Liberians lack proper documentation fled mostly belong to the Mandingo ethnic and while a land registry does exist,, it has group. Therefore, the increased prevalence of Finally, a significant proportion of the not been maintained since the outbreak of these conflicts not only indicates that the reported incidents were related to land the war, rendering it largely useless. Other reforms and policies that the government has competition, which on several occasions led land disputes have their origin in the civil put in place to address land disputes are slow to violence. In the construction of roads and war, when combatants captured — or were to show results, but also highlights the urgent private projects there is frequently confusion given — the land of those who fled as a need for a comprehensive reconciliation over efficient and appropriate compensation reward for their participation in the conflict. program among the various tribal and ethnic to land owners and residents who are to be As refugees are gradually returning to Liberia, groups. displaced as a result. they often find their property occupied, creating tensions in the community. 1 International Monetary Fund (2012). World Economic Outlook Database: October 2012 Edition. Retrieved from http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/ weo/2012/02/weodata/index.aspx. 2 Mackay, M (2012, October 11). Nobel Peace Prize winner rips fellow laureate over corruption. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/11/world/africa/ nobel-peace-prize-leymah-gbowee/index.html. 3 Transparency International (2011). Corruption Perceptions Index. Retrieved from http://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/overview. 4 Search for Common Ground/Talking Drum Studio and SIPRI (2011). Security Sector Reform in Liberia. Retrieved from http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/liberia/pdf/ Liberia%20SSR%20Report.pdf. www.fundforpeace.org 4 The Fund for Peace UNLocK Liberia Methodology About the Report From March 2010 to August 2012 FFP the conflict landscape in Liberia which is then The 8 UNLocK indicators for which data is conducted 14 conflict assessment workshops used to anticipate and respond to the major sought include social, economic, and in Liberia in partnership with LDW. In Bong, pressures that could lead to conflict. In the political/military pressures on the state: Bomi, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Nimba, and short term, this information acts as a warning, Lofa Counties, as well as Monrovia, allowing people to avoid potential conflict Social and Economic Indicators individuals and civil society organizations zones. More broadly, this information can be have been trained in a conflict assessment used by government and civil society to Demographic Pressures methodology utilizing FFP’s Conflict inform conflict sensitive approaches to Assessment System Tool (CAST) framework.