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1 Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Background to The Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Background to the Study The post-Cold War environment has seen the development of a new social order in Africa that frequently motivates non-state actors to challenge the status quo. The failure of the post-colonial West African states to address the challenges of nation-building, and evolve a political and socio-economic system where equity, fairness, and justice are accessible to all strata of the society, and above all, where the rule of law will be respected, creates avenues for civil disorder and strife. Many African governments have demonstrated negative tendencies, especially with regard to an unequal distribution of wealth as well as lopsided socio-economic development in favour of the regions of the ruling political elites. During the Cold War, political instability stemmed from military coups d’état which did not degenerate into civil war in West Africa. Apart from the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), West Africa was relatively stable compared to other sub- regions of the continent. The snowball effects of the First Liberian Civil War (1989-1996) heralded the beginning of a new form of instability which spread to Sierra-Leone (1991-2002), and again to Liberia (1999-2003) and most recently to Côte d’Ivoire (2002-2011). However, it is important to note that in Côte d’Ivoire case study, the thesis does not cover the dramatic events of the post-election crisis of 2011 that led to the Second Ivorian Civil War (November 2010-April 2011). The cut-off dates for Côte d’Ivoire in this thesis are from 2002 to 2010. These dates reflect the beginning of the Civil War to the “No war, no Peace” situation. These conflicts do not augur well for the future of the sub-region which was once considered as an island of peace and their flow on effects may still start conflicts in other neighbouring countries. The search for pro-active and preventive measures that would forestall such occurrences in other countries as 1 well as repeats within the same countries is very important for the entire sub- region. Therefore an understanding of the factors that trigger these conflicts is imperative. 1.2 Research problem _________________________________________________________________________ The present study examines the multifaceted factors in the civil wars in Sierra Leone (1991-2002) and Côte d’Ivoire (2002-2011). The socio-economic crises of the 1980s opened the lid on accumulated frustrations that resulted in social unrest as students and civil servants reacted negatively and sometimes violently to the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) measures that coincided with demands for multiparty elections and a vicious cycle of repressions from governments (Chabal 1998; Englebert 2000; Campbell 2001; Hirsch 2001 a; Mkandawire 2002; Grant 2005). In Côte d’Ivoire, the economic crises led to ethnic cleavages and hatreds that divided the country, not only along vertical lines between ethnic groups in the north and south but also along horizontal ethnic dissensions between the peoples of the south (Bassett 2003; Daddieh, 2001; Bossard 2003). Thus, the study looks at how ethnic divisions broke the fragile peace and national unity that was already critically weakened by the economic predicament of Côte d’Ivoire. Politicians fanned the embers of discord by using ethnic affiliation as a weapon of discrimination and xenophobia that resulted in violent conflicts as prelude to the war (Bassett 2003; Akindès 2004; Banégas, 2006; Banégas and Marshall-Fratani 2007). The ethnic conflict was exacerbated in the West of Côte d’Ivoire by the Second Liberian Civil War with the Liberian ethnic factions supporting the Ivorian belligerents related to their own ethnic groups (Dozon 2000a and b; Ero and Marshall 2003; Sawyer 2004). 2 In contrast, although there were some elements of ethnicity (for example, the Kamajoor militia’s support for the government) in the Sierra Leone war, this factor was not as pronounced as in the case of Côte d’Ivoire where ethnic conflict played a major role in triggering the civil war (Bangura 2000; Akindès 2004; Marshall-Fratani 2006). Bangura (2000:553) notes that [e]ven though the RUF rebellion is not ethnic, and the RUF (more eastern and southern in composition) and AFRC (more northern and Western Area) formed an alliance in pursuing a common goal, the conflict had strong ethnic overtones among key political elites. The path to the civil conflict was cleared by the long misrule of the All People’s Congress (APC) with the ineffective governments of Siaka Stevens and his imposed successor, former Brigadier-General Joseph Saidu Momoh who succeeded only in bequeathing a crippled economy to Sierra Leoneans (Grant 2005; Hanlon 2005). However, the lack of credible and open mechanisms of succession that resulted from protracted dictatorship and personal rule as well as the collapse of the patrimonial and clientelist system in Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire worsened the situation (Chabal 1998; Englebert 2000; Campbell 2001; Hirsch 2001a ; Grant 2005). Another complication was the involvement of the military in the politics of these countries. The armed forces, due to their undemocratic chains of command, failed to promote democracy in West Africa. In Côte d’Ivoire, the rank and file were enmeshed in the defense of their own ethnic groups (Kieffer 2000 :30-33). In Sierra Leone, the military was involved in the politics of the country and Siaka Stevens ignored professionalism to impose a selective policy of favorisitism for his cronies (Hirsch 2001b; Frontier 2005). Moreover, during the APC rule, officers of the armed forces were forced to join the ruling party (Kandeh 1992a : 391-392). The armed forces were not immune to neopatrimonialism in Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire and this factor increased the economic problems of these countries (Kandeh 1992 a; Hirsch 2001a ; Ouatarra 2008). 3 1.3 Focus of the Study ___________________________________________________________________________ This study seeks to address the crises in Sierra-Leone and Côte d’Ivoire with a view to understanding the factors, identifying the key actors (their interests and motivations), and issues around the mechanisms for conflict leading to this violence. Essentially the study attempts to give sufficient insights into the conflicts in the two countries to support proposals for informed action and policy formulation. Contrasting these two countries also facilitates a comparative study of Anglophone and Francophone theories as to the factors of civil war and methods for the resolution of conflict. 1.5 Research Questions _____________________________________________________________________ A number of research questions arise for this study based on the scholarly literature review of works on the factors that lead to civil war in West Africa. The case study approach aims to examine the four following inter-related research questions. The most salient question is about the factors that trigger civil war in West Africa, especially the factors that led to the intra-state war in Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire. 1. What role did cultural identities play as factors in triggering the civil war? 2. How did the availability of natural resources influence the war? 3. What are the commonalities and dissimilarities between the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire? 4. What are the issues concerning the relationships between economic crisis and civil war? Could better economic management have prevented the war? 4 1.5 Significance of the Study _____________________________________________________________________ This research work builds on the explanations of communal violence and intra- state conflicts by other students of Peace Studies. The study is also significant owing to the ‘West Africaness’ and ‘newness’ of the two conflicts and will unravel the reasons why these communities which have lived peacefully since independence now promote the pattern of a local belief in “them” and “us” that results in fratricidal war (Turton1997; Easterly 2001). Moreover, recent researches in peace and conflict studies covered in the literature review demonstrate that a holistic theoretical approach is needed to fully grasp the causes of internecine conflicts. This means that there is no metatheory that completely captures the explanations of civil war in West Africa (Bujra 2002; Hugon 2006; Bodea and Elbadawi 2007). The result of this study will be a contribution to the International Public Goods (IPGs) since such a comparative study is not yet available. It will also produce recommendations for future actions which can be discussed with United Nations officials, International Non Governmental Organisations (INGOs), youth organisations and members of civil societies in the two countries. 1.6 Limitations of the Study _________________________________________________________________________ The study is limited by a number of constraints. Firstly, the time factor played a significant role both endogenously and exogenously. The internal factor was that the University of New England requires full-time PhD Students to complete their study within three years. The external factor was that, due to financial constraints, the scope of the study was limited to only the most relevant countries (Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and 5 Liberia). I could not conduct field research for a longer period in the three countries which are the foci of this study. It could have been better to also investigate the factors resulting in these intra-state wars in neighbouring countries such as Guinea-Conakry, Burkina-Faso, and Mali as well as Libya. Investigating the involvement of Burkina Faso and Libya was important because the Burkinabè President, Blaise Compaoré and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have been accused of supporting the rebellions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d’Ivoire (Ero and Marshall 2003; Bovcon 2009a). The research instruments were designed to cover the sub-regional dynamics of these civil conflicts by collecting the opinions of experts, key informants, and some of those who were directly involved with the external backers of the rebellions (warlords) to reinforce the evidence collected through secondary data.
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