Abstract
The late 1980s witnessed the eruption of a “new wave of civil wars” in Africa. Beginning with Somalia in 1988, the phenomenon spread like an epidemic to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and several other states across the continent. Interestingly, the “new wave” ensued amid the “final moment” of the “Cold War,” and its associated superpower rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States. And as Edmond Keller observes, “… [this] had significant implications for African regional security.” 1 The core ramification was that a vacuum was created in terms of conflict management. That is, with the end of the “Cold War,” and the attendant superpower retrenchment, Africa lacked the agencies to manage its civil conflicts. Amid this conundrum, African regional (the Organization of African Unity now the African Union) and subregional organizations (Economic Community of West African States, Southern African Development Community, etc.) were catapulted into new and unfamiliar roles as “conflict managers.” Subsequently, the United Nations, amid its meteorite rise as the new “global conflict manager,” assumed the role as the “suzerain” for the management of civil conflicts in Africa. These twin developments have led to an emergent partnership between the United Nations and African regional and subregional organizations for the management of the continent’s civil conflicts.
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Notes
Edmond Keller, “African Conflict Management and the New World Order,” IGCC Policy Paper #13 (La Jolle, CA: Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, 1995), 1.
For a detailed discussion of the causes of the first Liberian civil war, see George Klay Kieh, Jr., Liberias First Civil War: The Crises of Underdevelopment (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2008).
See Abdi Samatar and Ahmed Samatar, The African State: Reconsiderations (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2002).
See Kieh, Liberia’s First Civil War and George Klay Kieh, Jr., “The Taproots of the Liberian Civil War,” Twenty-First Afro-Review 2, no. 3 (1996): 123–152.
See United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 156.
See Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs, The Economic Survey of Liberia (Monrovia: Government Printing Office, 1988).
See Movement for Justice in Africa, Liberia: The Situation in Our Country (Monrovia, Liberia: MOJA, 1980), 4.
See Pita Ogaba Agbese, “The State in Africa: A Political Economy,” in Beyond State Failure and Collapse: Making the State Relevant in Africa, ed. George Klay Kieh Jr. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007), 36.
See George Klay Kieh Jr., “Military Rule in Liberia,” Journal of Political and Military Sociology 28 (2000): 327–340.
See George Klay Kieh, Jr., “The Crisis of Democracy in Liberia,” Liberian Studies Journal 22, no. 1 (1997): 27.
See Comfort Ero, “ECOWAS and the Subregional Peacekeeping in Liberia,” Journal of Humanitarian Assistance 2, no. 4 (1995): 2.
Natalie Brown, “ECOWAS and the Liberian Experience: Peacekeeping and Self-Preservation, CSC Paper (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 1999), 8.
See George Klay Kieh, Jr., “Civil War and Peacekeeping in the West African Subregion: The Case of the Economic Community of West African States’ Intervention in Liberia,” Journal of the Third World Spectrum 7, no. 1 (2000): 43.
U.S. Department of State, Human Rights Report (Washington, D.C.: U.S. State Department, 1993), 342.
See George Klay Kieh, Jr., “The Economic Community of West African States, Conflict Management and the Liberian Civil War,” Low Intensity Conflict & Law Enforcement 8, no. 2 (1999): 134.
See Arch Bishop Michael K. Francis, Statement to Liberians in Sierra Leone (Monrovia: Government Printing Office, 1990), 2.
For a detailed discussion of the Religious Leaders of Liberia’s peacemaking efforts during the first Liberian Civil War, see George Klay Kieh, Jr., “Religious Leaders, Peacemaking and the First Liberian Civil War,” Journal of Religion, Conflict and Peace 2, no. 2 (2009). www.religionconflictpeace.org. Accessed March 2, 2009.
See Margaret Vogt, “Introduction,” in The Liberian Crisis and ECOMOG: A Bold Attempt at Regional Peacekeeping, ed. Margaret Vogt (Ikokoyi, Lagos: Gabumo Publishing Co., 1992), 3.
See Segun Aderiye, “ECOMOG’s Landing,” in The Liberian Crisis and ECOMOG: A Bold Attempt at Regional Peacekeeping, ed. Margaret Vogt (Ikokoyi, Lagos: Gabumo Publishing Co., 1992), 131.
See Peter Dumbuya, “ECOWAS’ Military Intervention in Sierra Leone: Anglophone-Francophone Bipolarity or Multipolarity?” Journal of Third World Studies 25, no. 2 (2008): 83–102.
Guardian, September 20, 1990. Cited in Osisioma B.C. Nwolise, “The Internationalization of the Liberian Crisis and its Effects on West Africa,” in The Liberian Crisis and ECOMOG: A Bold Attempt at Regional Peacekeeping, ed. Margaret Vogt (Ikokoyi, Lagos: Gabumo Publishing Co., 1992), 63.
See Mamadou Diouma Bah, “Peace-Building Through Informal Channels: A Comparative Analysis of Liberia and Mozambique” (Masters Thesis, Tromso, Norway: University of Tromso, 2006), 5.
See Human Rights Watch, Liberia: Emerging from Destruction (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1997), 5.
See George Klay Kieh, Jr., “The United Nations’ Peace Observation Mission and the First Liberian Civil War,” Peace Studies Journal 2, no. 1 (2009): 49.
See United Nations, United Nations and Liberia (New York: Department of Public Information, 2000), 1.
See Human Rights Watch, World Report, 1998 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1998).
See George Klay Kieh, Jr., “The Roots of the Second Liberian Civil War,” International Journal on World Peace 26, no. 1 (2009): 20.
See Human Rights Watch, “Liberia,” World Report, 1999 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999), 50.
See United Nations Development Program, Liberia: National Development Report (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 2.
See Human Rights Watch, “Liberia,” World Report, 2003 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2003), 47.
See George Klay Kieh, Jr., “The Economic Community of West African States, Peacemaking and the Second Liberian Civil War,” Liberian Studies Journal 32, no. 1 (2007): 67–83.
See Festus B. Aboagye and Alhaji M.S. Bah, “Liberia at a Crossroads: A Preliminary Look at the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the Protection of Civilians,” LSS Occasional Paper No. 95 (Pretoria, South Africa: Institute for Security Studies, 1994).
For a sample of the literature on the principle of “subsidiarity” in global conflict management, see David O’ brien, “The Search for Subsidiarity: The UN, African Regional Organizations and Humanitarian Action,” International Peacekeeping 7, no. 3 (2000): 57–83.
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© 2010 Jack Mangala
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Kieh, G.K. (2010). International Organizations and Civil Wars in Africa: The Liberian Case. In: Mangala, J. (eds) New Security Threats and Crises in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230115538_10
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