A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Regionalism and Peacebuilding in West Africa: Addressing the Challenge of Roaming Combatants Freida Ibiduni M’Cormack June 2017 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex iii UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX FREIDA IBIDUNI M’CORMACK DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES REGIONALISM AND PEACEBUILDING IN WEST AFRICA: ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGE OF ROAMING COMBATANTS Summary This thesis provides insights into approaches to regional peacebuilding with reference to the Mano Union River region of West Africa, comprising Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea. Using the case of the interrelated conflicts in these countries, particularly of regional fighters that fought in two or more countries, it investigates the constraints of conventional peacebuilding theory and practice in addressing regional conflict. Drawing largely on a constructivist International Relations approach, it argues that state-centred perspectives of conflict and peacebuilding, undertaken by institutions made rigid by ritualised practice, preclude an understanding of cross-border conflicts as localised conflicts, within the framing of a micro-region, and also block their effective engagement with the narratives articulated by combatants about their motivations for participating in cross-border conflict. Fieldwork was largely undertaken in Liberia, with the analysis supported by in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with regional combatants of Sierra Leonean, Liberian and Ivoirian descent, based in Liberia, as well as an institutional ethnography of United Nations peace operations, drawing on participant-observation, interviews and documentary analysis. The thesis demonstrates that while economic motivations feature prominently in regional combatants’ motivations, they also subscribe to other motives, in part mediated by socially constructed regional identities. These motives, however, receive limited or misguided attention from peacebuilding institutions, resulting in responses that are, in turn, limited in scope and effectiveness. A key lesson is the importance of understanding the opportunities and challenges arising from localised yet transnational imperatives that translate into violent cross-border movements in marginal border areas, to ensure adequate responses and sustain peace in the region in the long term. iv Acknowledgements My list of people and institutions to acknowledge is endless. My first thanks are for my family: my parents, Mr Fred D A M’Cormack and the late Mrs Joanna May M’Cormack, who started this journey with me but sadly is not here to see it to completion, although she had every faith that it would be. My siblings, Fredericka Adenike, Fredline Olayinka, Fredanna Durosimi and Frederick Adetokumboh, who have variously modelled how to persevere in the face of adversity; what continuing education, completing a PhD and life after should look like; and how to strive towards your goals, no matter how unattainable they initially appear to be. My wonderful maternal (Davies), paternal (M’Cormack-Johnson) and extended family aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces and god-children, who have provided endless encouragement and necessary distractions. My Aunty Cleo for making sure I started the PhD and then that I crossed the finish line, no matter where else life was taking me. My Aunty Jumoke for advising me to go to IDS in the first place, thus setting me on this path and remaining alongside. And their families. My PhD sisters – fellow Cornellians, Jumoke and Krystal, and fellow IDS/Sussex-er Wezi, whose own PhD journeys have inspired me. The family Jell, young and old[er], for their infinite patience and support. Most of all my husband Aaron Peter, my biggest cheerleader, motivator, support, prayer partner, editor-in- chief and my best, best friend. To my amazing supervisors, present and past: Drs Patricia Justino and Robin Luckham, who have steered me brilliantly through the ebbs and flows of this process, and kept the faith even when I started to lose mine. I am eternally grateful and blessed to have had you as my supervisors. Drs Niagalé Bagayoko and David Leonard who started out with me and helped craft my ideas and methods. Dr Deepta Chopra, who from even before this PhD was born has been my career advisor, sounding board, all-around inspiration, gracious and loving friend, and fabulous mother to my god-daughter Aysha. v My ex-combatant, community, refugee, ex-refugee and institution respondents, interviewees and focus group discussants – the people most affected by regional conflict yet who continue to carve out a space to survive and strive for better outcomes – I am grateful for your time and insights. My research assistants/gatekeepers – Ammies Mathews and George Boley – I could never have accessed the information I did without you. My work families – the great enablers. Firstly, to my friends and colleagues at UNMIL, especially fellow RRR and OSRSG colleagues, my Reporting Officers, and DPKO and DPA colleagues at UN Headquarters, who (knowingly and unknowingly!) provided me invaluable conversation, data, and perspectives that have been intrinsic to the PhD. This would not have been the same PhD and indeed the PhD may not even have been possible without my time at UNMIL so there are no words to express how grateful I am for the institution, and the amazing people who work there from the top down, a sentiment broadly shared by (fellow!) Liberians. I hope that I have not been too critical in my representation of the limitations peacekeepers and peacebuilders face – hopefully it will contribute in a small way to helping us be better! Colleagues and friends at IDS, including some of the most accommodating line managers in the world, who let me play with compressed hours, reduced days, and unpaid leaves of absence until they proved untenable and had to be permanent – Sandra, Al, the late Louise Daniel, and Alan. IDS has been an extraordinary place to work and study. BLDS has been my saving grace and lifeline. I am so grateful for the extraordinary support provided by fellow staff and students past and present. Prior to UNMIL, the organisations that respectively took me to and supported me in Liberia, especially Small Arms Survey and Landmine Action/Action On Armed Violence. Within the latter, I am particularly grateful to Chris Lang, Sarah Passawe, Umar Jalloh, Moses Sumo and Will for letting me use AOAV resources and knowledge to begin my work. From before UNMIL and beyond I am eternally grateful to Allan Quee (and by extension Lina) who, over 10 years ago, first took me to UNMIL, and made me care vi about regional combatants, which was where and when this PhD truly began (thank you Amos, the first regional combatant I encountered). Eric Perry, who I have known for that long, and who kept my research honest, and Richelieu Wollor who took me all over. Lawrence Morris (and by extension Ernest Gaie and Belgium), who hosted me sublimely during my pilot study and then during my first phase of fieldwork and who I had the unexpected pleasure of subsequently working with after he moved to the MRU Secretariat. Theo for linking me with former Sierra Leonean refugees. My sister-friends who made my last year in Liberia worthwhile, among all the ups and downs, never doubting I could finish – Aisha, Julie, Mariata, Miatta, Sarah M., Tina, and ‘our’ babies, Lenezel, Allan Jr. and Nthanda – looking forward to more parties when we take Shalom Fabric international! Sister-friends around the world who saw me start and have maybe even forgotten that this was still going on – from Braeburn, St Marys, Nairobi, Cornell, Brighton (IDS and CCK folk especially), Southsea, London, Freetown and Monrovia – it would be right and better to name you but in doing so I know I would miss someone out, so to all of you who have stood and sat and cheered and cried with me when the rest of my life was happening, encouraged me and kept me going: I do not know how to say thank you. And finally, to the Maker of all things, the Author and Finisher of my faith, who really, truly does everything in His own good time, according to His perfect will, my praise and thanks. vii Table of Contents Summary ....................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x List of Tables .................................................................................................................................