Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Africa at the Millennium pp 155–176Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

ECOWAS and Liberia: Implications for Regional Intervention in Intra-state Conflicts

  • Chapter

  • 21 Accesses

Abstract

Between 1990 and 1997, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was involved in peace-making and peace-keeping in Liberia, a West African country engulfed by internecine strife. For seven years the regional body tried to resolve the conflict, convening a number of peace meetings and brokering several peace accords, only to realise that the armed factions would renege on them. The UN and the OAU were brought in to provide legitimacy, but that was not sufficient to bring the war to an immediate end. It was not until the factions became exhausted militarily, coupled with internal and external pressures, that they finally agreed to resolve the crisis through a democratic process. By this time, the war had cost 250 000 lives out of a total of 2.5 million people, the death of more than thousand peace-keepers, and the destruction of the national infrastructure and the fragile economy. The general and presidential elections of 19 July 1997 resulted in a landslide victory for Charles Taylor, a leader of one of the main warring factions, and his National Patriotic Party (NPP). This effectively marked ‘the end’ of the war.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes and References

  1. See B. Buzan (1983) People, States and Fear (Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf).

    Google Scholar 

  2. K. Booth (1993) ‘A Security Regime in Southern Africa: Theoretical Considerations’, Paper presented at the conference on ‘Security, Development and Co-operation in Southern Africa’ organised by the Foundation for Development and Peace (Bonn), the Peace Research Institute (Frankfurt) and the Centre for Southern African Studies (Cape Town), held at Midgard, Namibia, 23–27 May, p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  4. George Klay Kieh, Jr. (1992) ‘Liberia: The Search for Democracy’, Unpublished keynote speech delivered on the occasion of the 145th independence celebration of the Republic of Liberia and the second installation programme of the Conference of Liberian Organisations in the Southwest United States, held on 25 July in Tulsa, Oklahoma, p. 8.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Earl Conteh-Morgan and Shireen E. Kadivar (1995) ‘Ethnopolitical Violence in the Liberian Civil War’, Journal of Conflict Studies, Spring, p. 37.

    Google Scholar 

  6. E. Dunn and S. Byron Tarr (1988) Liberia: National Polity in Transition (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press), p. 75.

    Google Scholar 

  7. George K. Kieh Jr. (1992) ‘Combatants, Patrons, Peacemakers, and the Liberian Civil Conflict’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, vol. xv, no. 2, April–June, p. 128.

    Google Scholar 

  8. A. Sawyer (1992) The Emergence of Autocracy in Liberia: Tragedy and Challenge (San Francisco, California: Institute of Contemporary Studies Press), p. 291.

    Google Scholar 

  9. A. Sawyer (1987) Effective Immediately, Dictatorship in Liberia 1980–1986: A Personal Perspective, Liberian Working Group Paper No. 5, Bremen, p. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Samuel K. Doe (1986) ‘First Nationwide Broadcast, 14 April 1980’, in Willie A. Givens (ed.), Liberia: The Road to Democracy (Abbotsbrook, Bourne End, Bucks: Kensal Press), p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  11. J. Gus Liebenow (1987) Liberia: The Quest for Democracy (Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana University Press), p. 192.

    Google Scholar 

  12. William O’Neil (1993) ‘Liberia: Avoidable Tragedy’, Current History, May, p. 214.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Sam G. Amoo (1993), ‘ECOWAS in Liberia: The Challenges and Prospects for African Peacekeeping’, Paper prepared for presentation at a conference of the Defence Intelligence College at Alconbury Royal Air Force Base, Cambridge, England, 6–7 May.

    Google Scholar 

  14. O’Neil ‘Liberia: Avoidable Tragedy’, p. 214.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Best Friends: Human Rights Violations in Liberia, America’s Closest Ally in Africa, A Fund For Free Expression Report (New York: Fund For Free Expression), May 1986, p. 11.

    Google Scholar 

  16. See Keesing’s Report vol. xxx, June 1984, p. 32898. Taylor was then Director General of the General Services Agency (GSA), the sole purchaser of government equipment and materials.

    Google Scholar 

  17. United Nations Development Programme, Fourth Country Programme for Liberia. 8 October 1986, in Marc Weller (ed.) (1994) Regional Peace-Keeping and International Enforcement: The Liberian Crisis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 26–7.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ibid., pp. 25–6.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Liebenow, The Quest for Democracy p. 211.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Letter dated 14 July 1990 addressed by President Samuel K. Doe to the Chairman and Members of the Ministerial Meeting of the ECOWAS Standing Mediation Committee, Official Journal of the ECOWAS, vol. 21, November 1991, p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Martin Luwenkopf (1995) ‘Liberia’, in I William Zartman (ed.) Collapsed States: The Distintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority (Boulder, Col.: London: Lynne Rienner), p. 95.

    Google Scholar 

  22. D. Whippman (1993) ‘Enforcing the Peace: ECOWAS and the Liberian Civil War’, in Lori Fisler Damrosch (ed.), Enforcing Restraint. Collective Intervention in Internal Conflicts (New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press), p. 158.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Luwenkopf ‘Liberia’ p. 95.

    Google Scholar 

  24. J. Agnew and Stuart Corbidge (1995) Mastering Space: Hegemony, Territory and International Political Economy (New York: Routledge), p. 78.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  25. W Ofuatey-Kodjoe (1994) ‘Regional Organisations and the Resolution of Internal Conflict: The ECOWAS Intervention in Liberia’, International Peacekeeping, vol. 1 no. 3, Autumn, p. 270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. West Africa, 12–18 March 1990, p. 407.

    Google Scholar 

  27. For all practical purposes, by June 1992 the Yamoussokro period had come to an end but because no major peace effort occurred between that date and June 1993, I have decided to stretch the Yamoussokro period further.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Robert A. Mortimer (1996) ‘ECOMOG, Liberia, and Regional Security in West Africa’, in Edmond J. Keller and Donald Rothchild (eds), Africa in the New International Order. Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security (London; Boulder, Col.: Lynne Rienner), p. 155.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Final communiqué of the First Session of the Community Standing Mediation Committee, Banjul, The Gambia, 6–7 August 1990, Official Journal of the ECOWAS, vol. 21, November 1991, p. 42.

    Google Scholar 

  30. West Africa, 8–14 October, 1990, p. 2631.

    Google Scholar 

  31. D. Sarroshi (1993) Humanitarian Intervention and International Humanitarian Assistance: Law and Practice, Wilton Park Paper No. 86 (London: HMSO), p. 12.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Details of the Sierra Leonean case has been provided in this chapter by David Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  33. See Anthony Chukwuka Ofodile (1994) ‘The Legality of ECOWAS Intervention in Liberia’, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 32, no. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Kofi Oteng Kufuor (1993) ‘The Legality of the Intervention in the Liberian Civil War by the Economic Community of West African States’, African Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 550–1.

    Google Scholar 

  35. See Agnew and Corbidge, Mastering Space, p. 78.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Georg Nolte (1993) ‘Restoring Peace by Regional Action: International Legal Aspects of the Liberian Conflict’, Zeitscherift Fur Auslandisches Offentliches Recht Und Volkerrecht, vol. 53, no. 3, p. 627.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Abass Bundu (1997) ‘ECOWAS: Conflict Management in Liberia and Sierra Leone’, Unpublished paper delivered to the Aberystwyth Forum on Humanitarian Affairs, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 20 November, p. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Ibid., p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Salim A. Salim (1990) Interview West Africa, 22–28 October p. 2691.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Ademola Adeleke Ademola (1995), ‘The Politics and Diplomacy of Peacekeeping in West Africa: The ECOWAS Operation in Liberia’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 33, no. 4, p. 587 (emphasis added).

    Google Scholar 

  41. For details on this problem and the factors that shaped it, see George Klay Kieh Jr., (1994) ‘The Obstacles to the Peaceful Resolution of the Liberian Conflict’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, vol. 17; D. Elwood Dunn (1998) ‘Liberia’s Internal Responses to ECOMOG’s Interventionist Efforts’, in Karl P. Magyar and Earl Conteh-Morgan (eds), Peacekeeping in Africa: ECOMOG in Liberia (London: Macmillan). Other articles in this book will also be useful.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Margaret Aderinsola Vogt, (1996) ‘The Involvement of ECOWAS in Liberia’s Peacekeeping’, in Edmond J. Keller and Donald Rothchild (eds), Africa in the New International Order. Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security (Boulder, Col.; London: Lynne Rienner), p. 169.

    Google Scholar 

  43. For details on this, see Funmi Olonisakin (1997) ‘African “Home” — made Peacekeeping Initiatives’, Armed Forces and Society, vol. 23, no. 3, Spring, p. 363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Vogt ‘The Involvement of ECOWAS’, p. 177.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Cited in Olonisakin ‘African “Home” — made Peacekeeping Initiatives’ p. 365.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Robert A. Mortimer (1996) ‘ECOMOG, Liberia and Regional Security in West Africa’, in Edmond J. Keller and Donald Rothchild (eds), Africa in the New International Order. Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security (Boulder, Col.; London: Lynne Reinner), p. 162.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Herbert Howe (1996/7) ‘Lessons of Liberia. ECOMOG and Regional Peacekeeping’, International Security, vol. 21, no. 3, p. 176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Sam G. Amoo (1993) ‘ECOWAS in Liberia: The Challenges and Prospects for African Peacekeeping’, Paper prepared for presentation at a Conference of the Defence Intelligence College at Alconbury, Royal Air Force Base, Cambridge, England, 6–7 May, p. 27.

    Google Scholar 

  49. James Mayall (1995) ‘National Identity and the Revival of Regionalism’, in Louise Fawcett and Andrew Hurrell (eds), Regionalism in World Politics. Regional Organization and International Order (Oxford: Oxford University Press), p. 185.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK

    Thomas Jaye (doctoral candidate)

Authors
  1. Thomas Jaye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham Trent University, UK

    Bakut tswah Bakut (Lecturer in International Relations and Director of the African Studies Group) & Sagarika Dutt (Lecturer in International Relations) (Lecturer in International Relations and Director of the African Studies Group) &  (Lecturer in International Relations)

Copyright information

© 2000 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Jaye, T. (2000). ECOWAS and Liberia: Implications for Regional Intervention in Intra-state Conflicts. In: Bakut, B.t., Dutt, S. (eds) Africa at the Millennium. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-05113-4_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-05113-4_9

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-63054-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-05113-4

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation