David Harris is Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He holds a PhD in African Politics from SOAS, and has con- ducted extensive fieldwork and been a member of several Election Observation Delegations in both Sierra Leone and Liberia. HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd ii 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2244 AAMM HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd iiii 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2244 AAMM CIVIL WAR AND DEMOCR ACY IN WEST AFRICA Conflict Resolution, Elections and Justice in Sierra Leone and Liberia David Harris HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd iiiiii 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2244 AAMM Published in 2012 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2012 David Harris The right of David Harris to be identifi ed as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. 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International Library of African Studies 29 ISBN 978 1 84885 687 5 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Typeset by Newgen Publishers, Chennai Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd iivv 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2244 AAMM CONTENTS List of Tables vii List of Abbreviations viii Maps xii Acknowledgements xvii 1 Introduction 1 Recent trends in international conflict resolution 2 Imperatives and trajectories in African conflict 9 Democracy and representation in post-Cold War Africa 18 Democratisation after conflict 30 Grounds for comparison 33 Key questions 36 2 The Long Road to Conflict in Sierra Leone and Liberia 38 Colonialism, settlements and early politics 38 Violence in a shrinking state: Sierra Leone’s postcolonial pre-conflict years 55 The problems of multi-party and one-party elections in Sierra Leone 60 A decade of decline and violence: Liberia’s post-1980 pre-conflict years 64 Votes from violence and fraud in Liberia 66 Conclusions 71 HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd vv 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2255 AAMM vi CIVIL WAR AND DEMOCRACY IN WEST AFRICA 3 Sierra Leone – War and Peace 74 Development of the conflict 74 The nature of the war and the combatants 77 Conclusions 92 4 Sierra Leone – The 1996 and 2002 Elections 94 The nature of the peace and the parties 94 Conclusions 127 5 Liberia – War and Peace 130 Development of the conflict 130 The nature of the war and the combatants 133 Conclusions 151 6 Liberia – The 1997 and 2005 Elections 153 The nature of the peace and the parties 153 Conclusions 182 7 Key Factors in the Elections in Sierra Leone and Liberia 185 Contributory factors 185 Two crucial factors 192 Conclusions 205 8 Post-Conflict Elections or Post-Elections Conflict 208 A note on Creoledom 209 Return to conflict or peace 211 The emergence of plausible political actors in post-conflict elections 214 African democracy in peace and war 239 Notes 245 Bibliography 276 Index 295 HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd vvii 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2255 AAMM LIST OF TABLES 1 (Sierra Leone) TRC estimates of atrocities committed by belligerents (%) 85 2 (Sierra Leone) 1996 first-round presidential election results of the top six polling candidates by region (%) 98 3 (Sierra Leone) 1996 second-round presidential election results by region (%) 98 4 (Sierra Leone) 1996 distribution of party seats 98 5 (Sierra Leone) 2002 distribution of party seats by sub-region 116 6 (Sierra Leone) 2002 presidential election results by sub-region (%) 118 7 (Sierra Leone) 2007 presidential election results by sub-region (%) 123 8 (Sierra Leone) 2007 distribution of party seats by sub-region 124 9 (Liberia) 1997 election results by county (% voting for political parties), with distribution of party seats in the Senate and House of Representatives 156 10 (Liberia) Parties and candidates in order of appearance on the ballot papers 157 11 (Liberia) Results of the 2005 first-round presidential election (11 October) 168–69 12 (Liberia) 2005 first-round presidential election results of the top nine polling candidates by county (%, winner in bold) 170 13 (Liberia) 2005 distribution of party seats in the Senate and House 173 14 (Liberia) 2005 Party seats in the Senate by county 174 15 (Liberia) 2005 Party seats in the House by county 174 16 (Liberia) 2005 presidential election (8 November) run-off results by county (%, winner in bold) 176 17 (Sierra Leone) Indicted by the SLSC for crimes against humanity 198 HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd vviiii 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2255 AAMM LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Sierra Leone All People’s Congress (APC) Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) Civil Defence Force (CDF) Democratic Centre Party (DCP) Interim National Election Commission (INEC) Internal Security Unit (ISU) Movement for Progress (MOP) National Consultative Council (NCC) National Election Watch (NEW) National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) National Unity Party (NUP) Peace and Liberation Party (PLP) People’s Democratic Party (PDP) People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) Revolutionary United Front (RUF) Revolutionary United Front Party (RUFP) Sierra Leone Army (SLA) Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd vviiiiii 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2255 AAMM ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Sierra Leone Special Court (SLSC) United Democratic Party (UDP) United National People’s Party (UNPP) United Nations Mission for Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) Liberia Alliance for Peace and Democracy (APD) American Colonization Society (ACS) Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia (COTOL) Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) Governance and Economic Management Assistance Programme (GEMAP) Interim National Assembly (INA) Liberian National Transitional Government (LNTG) Liberian Action Party (LAP) Liberian Peace Council (LPC) Liberian People’s Party (LPP) Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) Liberty Party (LP) Lofa Defence Force (LDF) Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) National Committee for Elections Monitoring (NACEM) National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) NPFL-Central Revolutionary Council (NPFL-CRC) Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) National Patriotic Party (NPP) National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) People’s Redemption Council (PRC) Reformation Party (RP) Special Election Commission (SECOM) True Whig Party (TWP) United Liberation Movement of Liberia (ULIMO) HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd iixx 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2255 AAMM x CIVIL WAR AND DEMOCRACY IN WEST AFRICA ULIMO-K (Kromah) ULIMO-J (Johnson) United People’s Party (UPP) Unity Party (UP) Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Alliance de la Majorité Présidentielle (AMP) Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo (MLC) Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie (PPRD) Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD) Regroupement des Nationalistes Congolais (RENACO) Angola Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) Mozambique Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo) Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo) South Africa African National Congress (ANC) Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) National Party (NP) Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie et Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD-FDD) International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) HHaarrrriiss__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd xx 1100//1144//22001111 1111::3322::2255 AAMM