The Mano River Basin Area: Formal and Informal Security Providers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone MAGNUS JÖRGEL, FHS, Mats Utas, FOI FOI, Swedish Defence Research Agency, is a mainly assignment-funded agency under the Ministry of Defence. The core activities are research, method and technology development, as well as studies conducted in the interests of Swedish defence and the safety and security of society. The organisation employs approximately 1000 personnel of whom about 800 are scientists. This makes FOI Sweden’s largest research institute. FOI gives its customers access to leading-edge expertise in a large number of fields such as security policy studies, defence and security related analyses, the assessment of various types of threat, systems for control and management of crises, protection against and management of hazardous substances, IT security and the potential offered by new sensors. FOI Swedish Defence Research Agency Phone: +46 8 55 50 30 00 www.foi.se FOI-R--2418--SE Base data report Defence Analysis Defence Analysis Fax: +46 8 55 50 31 00 ISSN 1650-1942 December 2007 SE-164 90 Stockholm Magnus Jörgel, FHS, Mats Utas, FOI The Mano River Basin Area: Formal and Informal Security Providers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone FOI-R--2418--SE Title The Mano River Basin Area: Formal and Informal Security Providers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone Rapportnr/Report no FOI-R--2418--SE Rapporttyp Underlagsrapport Report Type Base data report Månad/Month December Utgivningsår/Year 2007 112 p Antal sidor/Pages ISSN ISSN 1650-1942 Kund/Customer Försvarsmakten Forskningsområde 7. Ledning med MSI Programme area 7. C4I Delområde 71 Ledning Subcategory 71 Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence Projektnr/Project no E11104 Godkänd av/Approved by Göran Kindvall FOI, Totalförsvarets Forskningsinstitut FOI, Swedish Defence Research Agency Avdelningen för Försvarsanalys Division of Defence Analysis 164 90 Stockholm SE-164 90 Stockholm SWEDEN FOI-R--2418--SE Sammanfattning Mano River-staterna – Liberia, Sierra Leone och Guinea – har under de senaste 20 åren varit ett oroligt hörn av Västafrika, med inbördeskrig och kraftig politisk instabilitet. Även om det idag formellt råder fred i området, så ter sig livet för stora delar av befolkningen som en våldsam kamp för överlevnad i extrem fattigdom. Liberia och Sierra Leone befinner sig i återhämtning, men trots resursbidrag i form av återuppbyggnads- och reformstöd från organisationer och länder i västvärlden har förvånansvärt lite skett vad gäller reell utveckling och möjligheter för en stor del av befolkningen. Detta kan få allvarliga konsekvenser för regional säkerhet och stabilitet. I Guinea finns tecken som tyder på att befolkningen börjar tappa tålamodet med sin sjuke och ålderstigne totalitäre ledare. Mängden strategidokument, utvecklingsplaner, planer för fattigdomsbekämpning, multidimensionella Security Sector Reforms (SSR) och andra av bidragsgivare iscensatta och samordnade utvecklingsstrategier visar det stora intresse som västvärldens givarländer har i Mano River-staterna. Trots detta har reella utvecklingsresultat uteblivit och ansträngningarna har därmed inte bidragit till den stabilitet och säkerhet som eftersträvats. Denna studie beskriver formella, säkerhetsrelaterade strukturer i Mano River-staterna samt regionala och subregionala strukturer såsom MRU, ECOWAS och AU. Detta kompletteras med en beskrivning av de informella strukturer som finns i och runt de formella strukturerna. Genom denna jämförelse framträder bilden av att det är de informella strukturerna som till stor del bestämmer det formella och driver eventuell samhällsutveckling framåt. Studien visar att utan en djupare förståelse av s k Big Men (patroner) och informella nätverk är det svårt för externa aktörer att åstadkomma social och politisk förändring i området. Endast genom att förstå och använda de informella aktörer som har tillgång till, eller kontrollerar, de sociala, ekonomiska och politiska sfärerna, kan säkerhetssituationen i regionen förbättras. Nyckelord: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mano River Unionen, ECOWAS, Afrikanska Unionen, säkerhetsaktörer, säkerhetsstrukturer, informella aktörer, nätverk, Big Men 3 FOI-R--2418--SE Summary For the past 20 years the Mano River Basin (MRB) has been an area of violent upheavals and political instability. Although the area today enjoys peace in formal terms, life for many citizens of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea is one of immense struggle in poverty for a decent livelihood. Both Sierra Leone and Liberia are currently recovering from a decade of devastating civil strife that tore countries apart and caused massive death as well as destruction of private property and state struc- tures. Despite ample emergency and development funds from Western donors being dispensed into the region, surprisingly little real development can be observed. This can have a real effect on long-term security and stability. Guinea awaits the death of its President, and with him a totalitarian ruling system. The abundance of different strategy papers, development blueprints, comprehensive approaches, multidimensional Security Sector Reform (SSR) attempts and other donor-orchestrated development efforts indicate a great deal of international interest in dealing with the post-conflict situation in the MRB region. Unfortunately, direct outcomes remain uncertain and results from donor investment have not led to the social stability and security that have been wished for. This study describes the functions of the formal structures of the MRB states, the MRU, ECOWAS and the AU. It also looks into the informal networks that enmesh this formality. The study shows that it is the informal that pursues and carries the formal forward. It argues that without a thorough understanding of the concept of Big Men and informal net- works external actors will never be able to make any real contribution to how political and social matters unfold in the MRB area. If we do not support this knowledge with comprehensive capacity-enhancing assets, and if we do not continue doing this for a substantial length of time, there will be no real change in the security situation in the region. Keywords: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mano River Union, ECOWAS, African Union, security actors, security structures, informal actors, networks, Big Men 4 FOI-R--2418--SE Contents 1 Executive Summary ............................................................................6 2 Introduction..........................................................................................9 2.1 Journey without maps .....................................................................11 2.2 Theoretical framework: Big Man and network.................................13 2.3 The structure of the report...............................................................15 2.4 Liberia’s civil wars (1989-1996, 1999-2003) ...................................16 2.5 Sierra Leone’s Civil War..................................................................19 2.6 Guinea – on the verge?...................................................................21 3 The Formal Informality......................................................................25 3.1 The African Union............................................................................26 3.2 ECOWAS ........................................................................................31 3.3 Mano River Union............................................................................33 3.4 Sierra Leone....................................................................................35 3.5 Liberia..............................................................................................36 3.6 Guinea.............................................................................................38 4 Perceptions of Security ....................................................................40 4.1 Liberia’s “fuzzy” reality.....................................................................40 4.2 Sierra Leone’s “fuzzy” reality...........................................................44 5 The informal reality of the MRB security structures......................52 5.1 Chiefs and local commissionaires...................................................54 5.2 Secret societies ...............................................................................58 5.3 Businessmen...................................................................................62 5.4 Politics and Politicians.....................................................................66 5.5 Military .............................................................................................75 5.6 Trade unions ...................................................................................82 5.7 Warlords ..........................................................................................88 5.8 Border areas and power vacuum ....................................................90 6 External actors as Big Men ..............................................................95 7 Conclusions.......................................................................................98 8 Abbreviations...................................................................................100 9 Bibliography.....................................................................................103 5 FOI-R--2418--SE 1 Executive Summary This study was conducted with funding from the Swedish Armed Forces through the