Maputo, Mozambique — Following Sierra Leone's successful - and peaceful - elections in May, there's increased optimism that life really will return to normal. Yet Sierra Leone is not an island. Even if the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process goes well internally, much will depend on what happens in the country's Mano River Union neighbours, Liberia and Guinea. With 40,000 refugees now in Sierra Leone having fled the fighting in Liberia, and with deep unresolved tensions and spasmodic violence in Guinea, there is no room for complacency about peace.
At the end of June, allAfrica.com brought together two individuals with a long-standing involvement in peace initiatives in West Africa - Cheikh Oumar Diarra a former commander in the Ecomog peace-keeping force of Ecowas (Economic Community of West African States) and now its deputy executive secretary and Napoleon Abdulai, disarmament expert with the UN's Mali-based Regional Project for Coordination and Assistance for Security and Development which helps implement the Ecowas ban on movement of light weapons in West Africa. The two men were attending a meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, on how to strengthen African responses to African conflict. They discussed the rebellion and troubling situation in Liberia and how to prevent that crisis spreading to undermine Sierra Leone's fragile peace.
Napoleon Abdulai: General, good morning. In January this year the ceremonial arms destruction took place in Sierra Leone which marked the end of the civil war. Elections have taken place. Peace is being consolidated. But all around Sierra Leone, in Guinea and Liberia, violence seems to be the order of the day. What do you think is the way forward? What are the steps you are taking, practically, to contain the violence in Liberia? And if the Lurd rebels there take power and are de facto controlling the whole of Liberia, will Ecowas recognize it?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: As you know, since 2000 fighting is going on in Lofa county; this fighting is getting closer to the capital; right now, Lurdis controlling almost one third of the territory of Liberia. But we, from the beginning, made clear that we will not accept any taking of power by force. Ecowas has a mechanism on conflict prevention, management, prevention, peace keeping and security; we have also an additional protocol - so we will not accept it. We will use all means necessary in order to return the government elected by democratic, constitutional ways. And we made it clear to Lurd.
Now what we are trying is to have a ceasefire. And to launch a political dialogue between LURD and the government. We think that we will succeed; right now we have contacts and discussions with Lurd and with the government and I hope that very soon we will have the ceasefire and very soon we will start the dialogue between the two parties.
Napoleon Abdulai: General you see, that is the Ecowas position, this is the AU position of not encouraging the unconstitutional take-over of power. But the reality in Liberia is that either by July 26 or by the end of the year, Lurd wants to take over power. In that scenario, what are we going to do - unless we send another force to kick them out! Is Ecowas in a position to get forces from its member states in order to fight Lurd and restore Charles Taylor, as we did, for example, with [Sierra Leone president] Tejan Kabbah some years ago?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: This is the extreme position. We think that we will not [have to] go, maybe, to such a position. But if it is necessary, we will do it. We made clear that if Lurd takes power by force, we will not accept it. If we say that, it means that we will use any means, including force, to re-establish the democratically elected government. This is our position.
Napoleon Abdulai: If that is the position, fine. We know that we got the bulk of the troops from Nigeria for the last operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Nigerians were able to do it for several reasons, including that there was no parliament and therefore no need for accountability to parliament. Now, do we think that a democratic government in Nigeria would go through parliament and get the necessary support to send troops back to fight and bring back the government in Monrovia?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: Yes, I agree with you that the context has changed - in all member states. All member states now are ruled by democratic, elected governments so there is a procedure for sending troops abroad but in the meantime there are commitments of member states. All member states have signed the protocol on conflict prevention and at the same time on good governance and democracy. They have committed that they will provide the troops in Ecowas standby arrangements. They have committed! I think it will be just a question of procedure within the member states. I don't think there will be an opposition from these various parliaments because it is a commitment of member states to provide the troops when peace is threatened in a state it is one of the obligations of a member state.
Napoleon Abdulai: That is all fine but, for example, to get Ghana to contribute troops, it's going to be very tough for President Kufuor to get it through, taking into account the number of problems in the country. But I agree with you that it is very important for Ecowas members to provide the resources to meet the commitments that they've made.
Now if we go back to Liberia we see that Lurd's tactics include 'hit-and-run', include attacking government forces all over the place; what is the strategy of the Taylor government?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: Liberia was attacked by Lurd; it is the responsibility of the government to defend the territorial integrity of Liberia, the people and their property; Lurd has relatively succeeded so far but the government is committed to defend the country. We were recently in Yamoussoukro, during a meeting of the Mediation and Security Council last month at ministerial level, followed by a summit. During this meeting, the situation in Liberia was considered and the main decision are the following;
1) condemnation of the attacks;
2) ceasefire;
3) political dialogue;
For this, President Obasanjo and President Wade were mandated by the summit to organize a round table between the two parties and to find a political solution to the crisis and also to send a military mission to Liberia to assess the situation.
This mission went to Liberia and they got back last week [late June], we received the report and now this report will be presented to the Mediation and Security Council at an extraordinary meeting which will be held in Durban in the margins of the OAU summit. So all that means that Ecowas is deeply concerned by the meeting in Liberia and the process of settlement of this crisis is going on.
Napoleon Abdulai: Well the government has the right to defend its territory, that is a fundamental right that the government has; but we have to find out where the insurrection came from . Where did LURD get its men and equipment from? Where did it get its political support from? How can Ecowas produce an environment that will not allow for, every few years, new guerilla movements to start? For example, is this support coming from Guinea?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: One of the terms of the points of reference of the military team sent to Liberia was to ascertain if the rebels were receiving support and from whom?
And the finding of the mission was that the rebels were receiving support, the rebels are well-equipped, better than the government forces. But the mission could not have any evidence that this equipment and support was coming from Guinea or another country.
So we are facing a situation where we have rebels receiving support on one side and on the other side, the government, under embargo, receiving no support. This is why we decided that we will appeal to the international community to support the peace strategy of Ecowas because we need the support of UN, we need the support of the Security Council! Because we need the Security Council to understand that this support that the rebels are receiving will not cease and the rebels will be encouraged to continue their action.
An additional point is that among the three Mano River Union members states, you know the Rabat process? The three heads of state met in Morocco. We think that there is also need for dialogue between the three heads of state. I think this political dialogue, if it is established, if it creates room for exchanges between the three governments, this will be also, a means to overcome the project of the rebels.
Napoleon Abdulai: Are the rebels using old equipment or new equipment? And does it mean that the Ecowas moratorium on importation, exportation and manufacture of light weapons is being violated?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: Yes, certainly!
Napoleon Abdulai: By external forces? Are the weapons being imported from outside the sub-region?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: We have evidence that these rebels are supported, that they have re-supply, they have equipment; but we don't know yet the origin of this support. But it will be known later, I'm sure we will have to investigate later. What we are trying to do, so far, is to have a ceasefire because you cannot have any dialogue without a ceasefire.
Napoleon Abdulai: But Charles Taylor is saying he isn't going to talk to the rebels!
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: No, I think, the situation has evolved. The last information I have is that President Taylor is ready to meet with the rebels under some conditions and we are working on these conditions to facilitate the dialogue. I must inform you that there are some Liberian civil society organizations, political parties, who are also committed in this process and we think that very soon we will have this dialogue. It is the only way! Because the military option will not work, as I told you.
Napoleon Abdulai: There is a perception that across the Mano River basin, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, we have to deal with the root causes of all these conflicts - weak government, weak governance, weak political institutions, real, abject poverty and despotism which is leading to these internal displaced persons and ruthless exploitation of natural resources in the area by external forces.
One of the fundamental things that we have to do is to have political inclusion - inclusive government. The 'winner-takes-all' model doesn't help resolve conflict situations. For example, look at the way the Malians solved their own problems. They integrated a large chunk of the former rebels; I mean, if you go to Mali, to Koulouba [the presidential palace in Bamako] you see the various colours of the Malian people, from the north, from the south, east and central Mali, it is a national army now! You go to national military college at Koulikoro - you would see it being physically implemented.
If you drive from Bamako, through Segou Cinq, up to Gao or Timbouctou, you see development. The roads are tarred. You drive over 1000 miles and you don't come across a pothole. This is a means of integrating the country and this is what we need in the Mano River basin, a removal of political exclusiveness and its replacement by inclusive policies.
Secondly, we should look at how we can deal with our own political backwardness; the region is [rich in] gold, diamonds, iron ore and timber. Is there no way that we can, for example, get South African investment to add value to what is being produced there instead of just extracting it and sending it off to Europe and getting peanuts back - and the peanuts not being distributed widely! That way we can create more wealth - wealthy people don't pick up guns to fight!
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: I agree with you that you have to tackle the root causes of conflicts, that this is a process and that if we have to talk about root causes, one of the root causes is poverty. But you will not solve the issue of poverty within a week, a month, a year; it is a process, a goal, an objective to attain.
We are here facing an open crisis, we have to find a solution. What solution? The solution is, first of all, to have a ceasefire. In a political dialogue, then we can be able to consider all the aspects you talk about. National reconciliation, development, sharing power...
And I'm happy that you talked about the example of Mali. In Mali, as you know, we had war in the east and north. It was a terrible war, it was a terrible war. We have been able to solve this war by dialogue. And by tolerance, also.
In Liberia, you know what happened? What happened was that the peace process was not fully completed! When the government was elected, President Taylor immediately made clear that he is a sovereign government and he doesn't need any assistance from Ecowas. I was commanding troops in Liberia, I was one of the commanders of Ecomog and we were obliged to withdraw from Liberia knowing that the army was not restructured.
We knew that what is happening now will happen. But our mistake was that we organized elections before the restructuring. In a peace process, this is a lesson that we should learn. We have to complete all the process and then after, organize the election. Because when government is in place, it is difficult from outside to tell him what he should do because he is elected on a project and he will implement his project as he wants!
Napoleon Abdulai: General, Africans don't learn from each other! For example, Uganda in 1979, when Amin was overthrown by a combination of the Tanzanian army and the various rebel groups, they held a meeting in Moshi and they set up a government under the presidency of Yusuf Lule. The process of setting up that government - how that government collapsed and how elections were held - we don't look at it; we see that as history and we repeat the same thing in Liberia. That's why we need to learn from each other, if not we'll be repeating the same mistakes.
Lets look at 2003 and elections in Liberia. Are there conditions for free and fair elections in Liberia?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: No. Right now, there are not conditions for free and fair elections. What we want to do is a kind of package. The aim is to restore peace but it aims also at producing conducive conditions for elections. You cannot talk about election when there is no peace. You cannot talk about peace when there is no ceasefire! So it's a package, including ceasefire, political dialogue, reconciliation, internal dialogue, security, human rights, good governance, which should lead to an environment for elections.
Napoleon Abdulai: Does Ecowas have the resources to carry out all this political dialogue you're talking about?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: No, for the dialogue, it's easy. You remember that we had a meeting with a Liberian opposition, called the preparatory meeting to the Conference for National Reconciliation. During this meeting we discussed with the Liberian opposition, the Liberian diaspora and so on, and they submitted a position paper; this paper was sent to President Taylor for consideration and I think on July 10-11 there will be another meeting of the Liberian opposition; they also made clear that they don't support a military option.
So if they are not supporting a military option, then it means that they are willing to discuss with the government, with Lurd; I think our first objective is to have this ceasefire and to open dialogue between all three. It is not an issue of means, it is an issue of need. And everybody should understand that is our responsibility. We have to make peace. If Liberia collapses, then Mano River basin will collapse, then all the sub-region will have to face instability.
Napoleon Abdulai: There is this perception that the international community is pouring a lot of money into Sierra Leone and it is virtually withholding funds from Liberia and that this has partly contributed to the current situation. And, as we all know, the situation in that area is what we call a conflict system. That simply means that the war in Liberia is not simply internal it is also externalized, in my opinion. That is why I agree with you when you talk about a package for all three countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea
How do we move forward so that we don't get the recycling of the tools of war? Because that is what has been happening since December 1989 - from Liberia to Sierra Leone, from Sierra Leone to Liberia, from Liberia to Guinea, from Guinea to Liberia; this has been the process of movement of weapons and men fueled by external support. We have to find a way of curtailing it, with the support of the UN.
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: Yes, but I don't personally think the Mano River basin is a special case. The same seeds exist in other regions. What happened in Mano River basin can occur in Ghana, between Ghana, Togo and Burkina. I don't know - anything is possible in Africa! Take the case of Cote d'Ivoire. Cote d'Ivoire was a very stable country and look what happened in December 2000!
So I will like to say, don't take this case as a special case. In our sub-region we are very much aware that the seeds for conflict are all over the sub-region. This is why we decided for integration. Because you know that the boundaries are very artificial - if you take Ghana and Togo and Burkina, you see how it is. So we have a policy for sustainable peace which includes the development of democratic principles, the fight against corruption, against poverty, the issue of proliferation of small arms, the role of the civil society, women, youth - but all this concerns the future - it is what we should do to achieve a sustainable peace. Right now, we have an open crisis.
Napoleon Abdulai: The policy is very fine. The problem is that you have to have resources and men and women of integrity to carry out that policy and in our sub-region we lack those men and women. For example, if you take the issue of poverty. You can imagine, if you had the gas pipeline from eastern Nigeria running across the whole sub-region, it is going to create jobs, it's going to reduce importation of oil, so governments will have more money for education, health etc, but we don't hear the governments talk a lot about it, no one is pushing for rapid implementation; that is the kind of thing we are saying.
If you take energy, we are in a region where we have oil and gas but we also have solar energy. In Britain the Labour Party government has just launched something in which over 300,000 houses in Britain within two years are going to be using solar energy - in Britain where the weather is extremely bad! Yet in West Africa, where there is plenty of sun, the politicians are not thinking broadly, they are still thinking of getting generators from China where we have to pay with hard currency that we don't have!
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That is why, when we talk of Nepad (New Partnership for African Development), some of us are saying that civil society groups should be involved. Like in Ecowas now, before the coming summit, civil society groups should be convened by your outfit to talk about Liberia. If a country makes $10m from gold or diamonds, we should know how much of it went into education. Transparency has to be there! If we don't fight the poverty openly and quickly we may go back to slavery.
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: Is it possible to implement this policy, which sounds good, with the current leaders? I will say the leaders have their role, but the people also have their role - don't neglect the people! I believe in the people. I believe that life is process, things are evolving, the context is evolving and I'm sure that despite what some of our leaders are, there will be changes.
Most of the governments now are democratically elected governments. We have some heritage from the past and we have to face this heritage. But I'm sure that very soon, the situation will evolve, with the new perspectives of the African Union, of Nepad which is a very interesting program. And regarding Nepad, I will say that we in Ecowas, we don't have any problem with it because most of the provisions are already implemented by us so we don't see anything new; when I read it I see my protocol, my declaration on political principle, i see what we are doing in a daily basis.
Napoleon Abdulai: The principles are there on paper, it is the process of implementation.
But General, there's one other area in West Africa that is of concern, the situation in Guinea Bissau. There's political tension rising, there's conflict between government and civil society, there's tension also between Guinea Bissau and Gambia and also the linkage between the crises in Guinea Bissau and in Casamance. There's the need for a comprehensive approach to what some call Senegambia and Guinea Bissau.
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: As you know in Guinea Bissau, there were elections quoted as free and fair; President Kumba Yala was elected. But he has some difficulties in implementation of his programme with the legislature, the judiciary and with the civil society and the other institutions. It is just an issue of lack of democratic practice between the institutions. It is just a lack of experience, of practice in the democratic game. The institutions are not used to it.
But the problem is the economic situation. After war, Guinea Bissau is in a very difficult situation and we in Ecowas made an appeal to the international community to assist Guinea Bissau but the response is very little.
Napoleon Abdulai: What can Ecowas members who have gone through democratic processes do to help?
Cheikh Oumar Diarra: We could have done it, but so far UN is doing it, there is an office for peace-building and institution or capacity building in Bissau. I personally went there to make a presentation on civil-military relations which is one of the problems in this society where the military in the past has played a political role and it is not easy for them!
Even I went through this because I was a member of the [military] government [in Mali] and it was not easy for the military afterwards, having played a major role in politics, to go back to the camp and forget about politics.
So I went there and people were very happy because I, as a military man, was able to explain our experience in Mali and to explain that the role of the army should be defined, it should not be neglected. The army should have its role, it should be in a condition to play its role, which is to defend the territorial integrity of the country and to defend people and their property.
And the political people must know what is an army. If it is said that the army should be under control of the politicians, the people should know how to control the army.
So we had a very interesting discussion and I was commended by the UN because it created an exchange between the two sides which was not usual. So in Guinea Bissau things will come; but the major point is the economic situation. Even we in Mali, we had this problem. I'm sure all these countries who have no democratic, pluralism tradition have the same problem - you have to learn.
