Military Rule and the Outbreak of the Civil War
“2 – 5”
Dr. Issa Hamouda
I mentioned in the first episode of this series that the coup by Sergeant Samuel Doe ended the rule of the Americo-Liberians, who had held power (and wealth) for more than a century. Although the coup succeeded in achieving a degree of political stability thanks to the support it received from the majority of the population that had long been marginalized, and although Doe worked to attract foreign investment by granting large preferential privileges and aligned himself with the West during the Cold War, his era was marked by ethnic favoritism toward his own group and the marginalization of other ethnicities.
Liberia entered a state of instability because of ethnic conflicts, and General Doe tightened his iron grip after several coup attempts between 1985 and 1989.
The year 1989 is regarded as the start of the civil war. Charles Taylor’s rebel group (one of Doe’s former loyalists) succeeded in penetrating Liberia from neighboring Côte d’Ivoire.
The armed rebel group of General Prince Johnson (a faction that had split from Charles Taylor’s militia) managed to storm the capital Monrovia, capture General Samuel Doe (who had promoted himself to the rank of general after seizing power), torture him, and then assassinate him. Doe’s assassination was preceded by the infamous Monrovia Church massacre, carried out only meters from the presidential palace by armed groups loyal to Doe. More than 600 worshippers from other ethnic groups were killed in that massacre.
The civil war expanded. By the beginning of 1990 dozens of ethnic and tribal militias controlled different parts of the country. Given the current discussion about the proliferation of militias and armed groups in Sudan, I cite here Liberia’s experience of the multiplication of armed militias as the war dragged on from 1989 to 1997:
• People’s Redemption Council of Liberia: the ruling party formed by General Doe. It initially sought to build a broad popular alliance calling for the empowerment of marginalized groups and enjoyed wide support from Liberians belonging to the indigenous tribal communities that had been sidelined for decades under Americo-Liberian dominance. As Doe sought to monopolize power and increasingly favored his own ethnic group and the allied Mandingo community, the party fell under the control of the president’s Krahn ethnic group.
• National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor: a militia founded by Taylor after he broke with Doe. Taylor had served as a government minister before fleeing to the United States after being accused of embezzling large sums and being pursued by the authorities.
• Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL): a militia that split from Taylor’s group and was founded by General Prince Johnson. It was dominated by the Gio and Mano ethnic groups and was the force that succeeded in capturing Monrovia and seizing General Doe.
• United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO): a militia loyal to Doe, composed of the Krahn (Doe’s own group) and the Muslim Mandingo ethnicity.
• United Liberation Movement of Liberia (a further splinter): a militia that emerged when the Mandingo faction broke away from the above force; it later split again into two groups because of internal conflicts within the Mandingo community.
• Liberia Peace Council: a militia founded by certain political leaders and retired officers of the Liberian army.
• Numerous other militias that arose on regional bases in Liberia’s various counties.
These groups and militias were characterized by shifting allegiances as the conflict evolved, alliances changed, and opportunities for looting resources and trade arose. They became notorious for trafficking in everything, especially natural resources and minerals; the civil war became closely associated with the trade in blood diamonds. The war spread and grew more complex within a few months, and regional and international efforts failed to stop it or achieve peace. Between 1990 and 1997 several regional and international initiatives were launched to intervene and pressure the warring parties into signing peace agreements; three such agreements were concluded but none lasted long.
The most important of these initiatives was the intervention of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in August 1990. ECOWAS, a regional organization of sixteen West African states, received support from other African countries such as Uganda and Tanzania, which also sent troops to reinforce the ECOWAS force. The force’s tasks were to protect civilians, evacuate foreign nationals, compel the warring parties to observe a cease-fire, and agree on the formation of a transitional authority that would prepare the way for elections. The intervention achieved only limited success in securing the capital Monrovia, which Charles Taylor’s forces were close to capturing.
The main reasons for the failure of the African intervention force were insufficient funding and divergent political visions among the West African states. In September 1993 the UN Security Council established the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), which included a small military observer force of a few hundred personnel and a civilian component to implement a peace agreement signed by the parties in Cotonou, the capital of Benin. International and regional efforts failed to sustain the peace agreement; fighting intensified and civilian violations increased.
The parties signed two further peace agreements, in 1994 (the Accra Agreement, Ghana) and in 1995 (the Abuja Agreement, Nigeria). The latter agreement was relatively more successful: representatives of civilian forces and three major armed movements, including Charles Taylor’s group, agreed on a peace settlement, power-sharing in a transitional government, and elections to follow the signing.
The agreement collapsed after a short time and fighting resumed inside Monrovia with even greater intensity than before. During this period the armed militias shared control of the capital; after the collapse of the peace deal the city suffered extensive destruction, looting of government institutions, citizens’ homes, and the premises of international organizations. Tens of thousands of residents fled the capital, and more than 20,000 sought refuge at the American embassy. The United States, one of Liberia’s most important allies, attempted to salvage the Abuja Agreement but failed. ECOWAS made further efforts to bring the parties back to the negotiating table and succeeded in forming a new transitional presidential council headed by Mrs. Ruth Sando Perry (making her the first woman in Africa to serve as head of state).
Later, in 2005, another woman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was elected president of Liberia, becoming the first woman elected head of state in Africa. Attempts were made during this period to collect weapons from the warring groups; reports indicated that roughly ten thousand weapons and more than a million rounds of ammunition were collected by offering fighters material incentives and educational grants. The United States and the European Community provided financial and logistical support to the ECOWAS intervention force to increase its troop strength and capabilities. Despite all this, regional and international efforts failed to produce a lasting peace agreement. There was also divergence between the positions of the regional organization and the United States regarding the holding of elections.
The United States and Nigeria favored holding the elections on schedule in 1997, contrary to the position of the other West African states and of Liberian civilian parties and forces, which called for a postponement. The elections went ahead as planned and Taylor defeated the civilian alliance led by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Taylor had moved earlier than the other political forces by nominating himself and forming a political party; he organized campaign activities and succeeded in winning support among rural populations. His victory in elections that independent monitors judged to be relatively free and fair astonished the world, especially given his role in the war. One explanation is that people voted for him because they understood his ambition for power and feared he would return whether elections were held or not. Citizens’ desire to end the fighting, live in peace, and return to their homes also motivated support for Taylor. A slogan circulated among young people during the campaign: “You killed my father, you killed my mother, but I will vote for you.”
Relative stability increased after Taylor’s election. The international community helped the Liberian people rebuild by providing financial, technical, and logistical support to Taylor’s government, supporting civilian forces and Liberian civil-society organizations, and strengthening free media and the press. Little real progress was made in reconstruction and stabilization, however; human-rights violations increased and relations between the international community—especially the United States—and Taylor’s regime deteriorated. Taylor’s intervention in the wars in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea became a source of concern and later of rupture with his former international supporters, particularly the United States. President Bill Clinton threatened punitive measures against Taylor’s government, and tensions continued under President George W. Bush.
Internal tensions developed into renewed conflict and Liberia returned to war, which ended with a new peace agreement in Accra in 2003. A transitional government was formed for three years, and presidential elections were held in late 2005. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won by building a broad coalition that included some former warlords who had become political leaders and founded parties, most of which were based on tribal and regional lines.
What must be highlighted above all is the human suffering and the human cost of the Liberian civil war. Liberia is a small country; its population at the time was about two and a half million. The war displaced more than a third of them outside the country and forced more than a million to flee to relatively safer areas inside Liberia. The number of deaths is estimated at roughly 300,000. The war caused the collapse of agricultural production in rural areas; with the interruption of trade and other sources of income, famine and malnutrition spread. The multiplicity of militias and the widening of the war also blocked the entry of relief organizations; the few that remained faced the looting of aid and property. Tribal and regional animosities and violence among civilians increased, as did killings based on identity that targeted children, women, and the elderly.
