| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
[This IRIN report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
MONROVIA, 31 August 1999 (IRIN) - Since the end of Liberia's civil war in 1997, upper Lofa County has been more prone to unrest than other parts of the West African country and this year the situation has taken a turn for the worse.
In March-April communal clashes erupted and aid workers were kidnapped. Fighting broke out again in the second week of August, leading to population displacement, widespread looting and casualties.
Located near the borders with Guinea and Sierra Leone, far from Monrovia or any other capital, upper Lofa has been susceptible to infiltration by armed insurgents from across the border since the early nineties.
The Monrovia government recently accused Guinea of trying to destabilise Liberia by supporting rebel groups. The spokesman of the Ministry of Defence, Philipbert Browne, told IRIN that the rebels were being trained in the Guinean towns of Macenta and Gueckedou, a charge Guinea's authorities have denied.
Many theories have been advanced to explain why Lofa appears more prone to armed conflict than other parts of Liberia. Some feel, for example, that the large amount of relief assets concentrated in upper Lofa for Sierra Leonean refugees there (some 48,000 according to UNHCR estimates from before the fighting) provide an attractive target for potential insurgents.
In a study produced for the United Nations in June 1998, analyst Shawn Messick states that "harvesting", a term coined to describe wholesale looting of the humanitarian community, has occurred every two years from 1990 to 1996.
Another report, 'The Disarmament, Demobilisation and reintegration of Child Soldiers in Liberia', done for UNICEF and published in March 1998, cites evidence that a higher proportion of Lofans enlist in the armed forces than people from other regions.
"As was the case with adults, a large number, 30 percent, of the children (ie child soldiers) came from Lofa County ...," the report noted. "While no clear reason can be given for the greater participation of Lofans in the war, Lofans constituted a substantial portion of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) before the 1981 coup" that brought the late Samuel Doe to power.
"This suggests that military duty has long been thought of as an attractive career choice by Lofans," the report added.
The economic disparity between Mandingoes, many of whom are merchants, and other ethnic groups in Lofa and neighbouring Nimba county was identified as one of the root causes of inter-communal strife at a three-day conference in July on Ethnic-Based Conflicts in Lofa and Nimba Counties.
When Mandingoes fled from Liberia during the 1989-1997 civil war, youths from other ethnic groups occupied their properties, according to a joint resolution issued at the conference.
"To this day many Mandingo houses remain occupied by other ethnic groups," a Lofa resident told IRIN. "When Mandingoes try to reclaim them it is a potential source of conflict."
The conference was attended by about 100 Liberians of various political, religious, ethnic, economic, social and educational backgrounds. The culmination of more than six months of study on conflict between Mandingoes and Lormas in Lofa, and between Mandingoes and Manos and Gios in Nimba, it was organised by the Center for Democratic Empowerment with support from the Danish government.
The Center's executive director, Conmany Wesseh, told IRIN that, as the 1989-1997 civil war progressed, the mutual trust between Mandingoes and Lormas in Lofa was gradually eroded. "During the war the Lormas felt betrayed by the Mandingoes," Wesseh said.
"When the Mandingo-dominated ULIMO was formed they went into Lofa, targeted Lorma communities and violated and looted shrines," he said. "On the other hand, the Mandingoes accused the Lorma of not giving them protection and violating their mosques."
This led to a situation whereby unscrupulous individuals could manipulate the growing mistrust between the two communities so as to maximise their own power and control. As the war progressed, Lofans increasingly used violence to achieve their goals whereas in the past they would use traditional structures for reconciliation purposes, Wesseh said.
"Although the war has ended, there continues to be mistrust between Mandingoes and Lormas and the culture of violence remains," he added.
The undermining of the authority of the local administrative structure in Lofa by the different security units operating in the area was one of the key problem areas identified by the Lofa Working Group at the July conference.
"There are four or five different security units currently in Lofa," a respected elder from upper Lofa told IRIN in Monrovia. "None of their activities are coordinated and each claims to have direct authority from Monrovia," the source added. "This inevitably reduces the ability of the local administration to respond to problems and crises when they arise."
Similar sentiments were echoed by the National Human Rights Center, an umbrella group of human rights organisations, in a press statement issued on 2 August. The statement referred to "persistent reports of harassment and intimidation of residents in Lofa County by both security personnel and illegal vigilante groups".
The involvement of adolescent ex-combatants still traumatised
by their war experience was another major problem identified
by the Lofa Working Group, as was drug abuse among
the ex-fighters.
"The widespread and uncontrolled use of drugs by
the youth in Lofa County has impacted on the attitude
of the youth, especially as these drugs are being sold
by elements from the security units," the working
group said in its report.
The proliferation of arms in Lofa County, including
in areas that are not wracked by conflict, has created
conditions of fear and affected the movement and livelihood
of the people of those areas, the working group added.
Wesseh pointed out that there was a direct correlation between availability of arms and heightened violence.
"With increasing armed groups there is increasing harassment, with increasing harassment there is less productivity in the community," he said. "With less productivity there is increasing poverty and that makes society ripe for intervention by charlatans or demagogues."
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1514
[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information or free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
| Previous Menu | Home Page | What's New | Search | Country Specific |