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Armed Conflict, Youth and the Rural Crisis in Sierra Leone

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Armed Conflict, Youth and the Rural Crisis in Sierra Leone Footpaths to Reintegration Armed Conflict, Youth and the Rural Crisis in Sierra Leone Promotor: Prof. dr. P. Richards Hoogleraar Technologie en Agrarische Ontwikkeling Wageningen Universiteit Co-promotor: Dr. ir. C.E.P. Jansen Universitair docent, leerstoelgroep Technologie en Agrarische Ontwikkeling Wageningen Universiteit Promotiecommissie: Prof. dr. J. Abbink Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Prof. dr. ir. G.E. Frerks Wageningen Universiteit Dr. T. Kelsall University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Prof. dr. A.B. Zack-Williams University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK Dit onderzoek is uitgevoerd binnen de onderzoekschool CERES (Research school for Resource Studies for Development). ii Footpaths to Reintegration Armed Conflict, Youth and the Rural Crisis in Sierra Leone Krijn Peters Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor op gezag van de rector magnificus van Wageningen Universiteit, Prof. dr. M.J. Kropff, in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 30 mei 2006 des namiddags te half twee in de Aula iii Krijn Peters Footpaths to Reintegration Armed Conflict, Youth and the Rural Crisis in Sierra Leone. Key words: armed conflict, rebel movements, RUF, child soldiers, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, marginalisation of youth, agrarian opportunities, Sierra Leone, West Africa Cover illustration: RUF fighters showing their weapons (photographer unknown) © Krijn Peters 2006 All rights reserved. Wageningen University Thesis ISBN 90-8504-401-4 iv Contents ABBREVIATIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION 1 - Tongo in a time of war - Three explanations of the conflict - New Barbarism, or the “apocalyptic view” - Greed, not Grievance - State collapse and a pent up rebellion of youth - Defining the problem and the solution - Chapter overview CHAPTER 1 VOICES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD : EX -COMBATANTS VIEWS ON ROOT CAUSES OF THE WAR AND THEIR REASONS FOR PARTICIPATION 14 - The ex-combatants - RUF ex-combatants - SLA/AFRC ex-combatants - CDF/Kamajor ex-combatants - Discussion CHAPTER 2 THE SOCIO -ECONOMIC CRISIS OF RURAL YOUTH 26 - The making and collapse of the state in Sierra Leone - Slaves and ex-slaves - From Crown Colony to a Protectorate - Political parties emerge - Patrimonial politics take shape - APC oppression - An economic tragedy - The patrimonial system collapses - The making and functioning of rural societies in Sierra Leone - Settler patterns - Primitive accumulation and domestic slavery - Elite control over means of production and reproduction - Neither citizens nor subjects: the political marginalization of youth - Survival strategies for marginalized youth - Discussion v CHAPTER 3 CONFLICT IN SIERRA LEONE AND RECRUITS TO THE WAR 46 - An overview - The beginning - Youth in power - The Kamajors - And another coup - Towards final peace - Stories CHAPTER 4 THE WORLD OF THE RUF 58 - About the interview material - Strategies of bonding - Conscription - Loyalty through punishment and rewards - Loyalty through isolation - Loyalty to the leader - Loyalty through socialisation - The world of the RUF bush camps - The bush camps - Meritocratic principles - Age - Terror - The RUF ideology and political agenda - “Drastic fundamental change” - The erosion of its ideology - The agrarian agenda of the RUF CHAPTER 5 CULTIVATING PEACE : RUF EX -COMBATANTS ’ INVOLVEMENT IN POST - WAR AGRICULTURAL PROJECTS 84 - Introduction - The projects - GTZ Tongo - NADA Blama - BANSAL Robol Junction - RADO Makeni - KADA Makeni - Discussion CHAPTER 6 THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WAR : THE RUF AS A RURAL UNDERCLASS PROJECT ? 98 - Introduction - Was the RUF a product of “lumpen”culture and was it “mindlessly violent”? vi - Radical youth culture in Sierra Leone - The Libya and Liberia connections - Bush paths to destruction? - A lumpen movement? - Lack of ideology - The widespread violence - Some criticism of the lumpen hypothesis - Lumpens as a moral verdict - Second generation city lumpens or rural drop-outs? - The creation and collapse of an armed egalitarian meritocracy - A neo-Durkheimian process - Discussion: answering the three key questions - Lumpen neo-barbarians – did uncouth cultures cause war? - Greed, not Grievance – was it all about diamonds - Rapid expansion of the RUF – an inverse of the rapidly collapsing patrimonial state? - Conclusion CHAPTER 7 THE REINTEGRATION OF EX -COMBATANTS IN SIERRA LEONE 117 - Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration - Early attempts - Disarmament and demobilisation under Lomé - Skills training by Implementing Partners - DDR shortcomings - Entitlements: a right or a privilege? - DDR validation: a right or a privilege? - Denial of the government and NCDDR of a rural/agrarian crisis of youth - Agrarian solutions to the challenge of ex-combatants’ reintegration - Making agricultural packages central - The need for agricultural training projects - Individual and collective farming opportunities - Access to land and labour - Towards a new approach for agricultural training CHAPTER 8 REALITIES OF REINTEGRATION : BETWEEN CONFORMITY AND TRANSFORMATION 135 - Introduction - Reintegration in a rural setting: case I - Back to normal? Life in Sendumei, a former rebel stronghold - Reintegration in a rural setting: case II - War-induced shifts in inter-generation values: reintegration in A. - Samuel: the biography of a fighter from A. - Samuel’s army years - Samuel’s reintegration attempts vii - Back to his old life? - Discussion - Other reintegration stories: reintegration in a mining setting - Tongo: a reintegration problem at large - Housing as a reintegration flash-point in Tongo - Reintegration in a town setting - The towns - An army of motorbikes - Conclusion REFERENCES 167 ANNEX I A CHRONOLOGY 176 ANNEX II OVERVIEW INTERVIEWED EX -RUF COMBATANTS 180 DUTCH SUMMARY 181 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 188 viii Abbreviations AFRC Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (military junta of renegade soldiers in power from May 1997 until March 1998) APC All People’s Congress (political party ruling from 1968 until 1992) CDF Civil Defence Forces (general name for the various hunter-based civil militias which took part in the war) DDR Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration DFID Department for International Development (of the UK) ECOMOG Economic Community of West African States Monitoring and Observation Group EO Executive Outcomes (mercenary group hired by NPRC and President Kabbah to fight the RUF) GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German NGO) ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IMATT International Military Advisory and Training Team (UK-dominated team of specialists training the Sierra Leone police and armed forces) IMF International Monetary Fund IP Implementing Partner (organisation or training centre implementing one or more reintegration projects as part of DDR) KPM Kono Progressive Movement (political party in Kono during the 1950s and 1960s) NCDDR National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration NGO Non-governmental organization NPFL National Patriotic Front of Liberia (rebel movement in Liberia, headed by Charles Taylor and alley of the RUF NPRC National Provisional Ruling Council (military junta of junior army officers in power from April 1992 until March 1996) PANAFU Pan-African Union (revolutionairy student group in Sierra Leone during the 1980s) RSLMF Republic of Sierra Leone Military Force (name of the government official forces up to 1998) RUF Revolutionary United Front (the main rebel movement in Sierra Leone, fighting from 1991 until 2002) RUF/SL Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone (official name of the RUF) SLA Sierra Leone Army (general name for the military forces) SLAF Sierra Leone Armed Forces (government official forces after 1999) SLPP Sierra Leone People’s Party (political party ruling from 1961 until 1968 and from 1996 up to present (despite 8 months of exile during the AFRC/RUF reign) TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission ULIMO United Liberian Movement for Democracy (rebel movement created by Liberian exiles in Sierra Leone opposed to the NPFL and the RUF) UN United Nations UNAMSIL United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (Peacekeeping mission) UNOMSIL United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone ix Acknowledgements In search of an interesting topic for my MSc-thesis, Paul Richards suggested the possibility of going to Sierra Leone to talk with demobilised child soldiers. That was 1996. The country was relatively stable and moving towards the Abidjan Peace Accord. James Vincent, a Sierra Leonean with lots of research experience, an extremely wide network of contacts and the right-hand of Paul whenever he was in the country, became my local supervisor. This was the set-up in ’96 and so it has been for this PhD research. Without their help this thesis would have never been realised. In ‘96/97 I visited two ex-child soldier projects and met with many under-age ex- combatants. One of the ex-child combatants, A.B.J., became a very close friend and valuable source of information throughout the following years (both by his reflections and behaviour), representing the most personal and direct link to the area of my research. I still regret it that our friendship could not endure. Building a good rapport with informants was paramount for this thesis and as a result, sometimes, bonds of friendship were created. These friendships were to some extent constraint by the demand for scientific dissociation. However, I know that I have been genuine in my relationship with the interviewees and I would like to thank all the ex- combatants who I have interviewed
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