Sierra Leone: The political economy of civil war, 1991-98

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 20, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 143-162

  Zack Williams, Alfred B ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVIL WAR; POLITICAL CONFLICT; POLITICAL ECONOMY; SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS;

SIERRA LEONE;

EID: 0032939571     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01436599913965     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. RUF, Footpaths to Democracy Toward a New Sierra Leone, Vol 1, nd, p 25.
2. A B Zack-Williams, 'Sierra Leone 1968-85: the decline of politics and the politics of decline', mimeo, Department of Sierra Leone Studies at Birmingham, University of Birmingham, 1985, pp 202-208.
3. J Kandeh, 'Sierra Leone: contradictory class functionality of the "soft" state', Review of African Political Economy, 55, 1992, pp 30-43.
4. Ibid, p 30.
5. Ibid. Indeed, the democratic institutions inherited from colonial rule were gradually dismantled in this process. See Zack-Williams, 'Sierra Leone 1968-85'.
6. Ibid. Indeed, the democratic institutions inherited from colonial rule were gradually dismantled in this process. See Zack-Williams, 'Sierra Leone 1968-85'.
7. W Reno. Corruption and State Politics in Sierra Leone, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
8. It is common knowledge among Sierra Leone watchers that most of the loans obtained under the APC were distributed to private individuals and squandered by party stalwarts or lop civil servants. Note the phenomena of 'sqaundergate' and 'vouchergate', defining bureaucratic corruption.
9. J Kandeh 'Sierra Leone', p. 30.
10. B Thompson, The Constitutional History and Law of Sierra Leone (1961-1995), Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1997.
11. A M Lavalie, 'Government and opposition in Sierra Leone, 1968-78', in A Jones & P K Mitchell (eds), Sierra Leone Studies At Birmingham, University of Birmingham, 1985, pp 77-106.
12. This refers to the clientelist networks used to build support via rent extraction and expansion of the state sector; and as state support through subsidies for the vociferous urban dwellers. See T M Callaghy, 'Lost between state and markets', in J Nelson, (ed), Economic Crisis and Policy Choice: The Politics of Adjustment in the Third World, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990, p 258.
13. Reno, Corruption and State Politics in Sierra Leone.
14. D Keen. ' "Sell-Game": the economics of conflict in Sierra Leone', paper presented at the West Africa at War Conference, 21 October 1995, p 2.
15. A B Zack-Williams, 'Sierra Leone: the deepening crisis', Review of African Political Economy, 49, 1990, pp 22-33. See also Zack-Williams. 'Sierra Leone: the deepening crisis and survival strategies', in J E Nyang'oro & T M Shaw (eds), Beyond Structural Adjustment in Africa: The Political Economy of Sustainable and Democratic Development, New York: Praeger, 1992, pp 149-168.
16. A B Zack-Williams, 'Sierra Leone: the deepening crisis', Review of African Political Economy, 49, 1990, pp 22-33. See also Zack-Williams. 'Sierra Leone: the deepening crisis and survival strategies', in J E Nyang'oro & T M Shaw (eds), Beyond Structural Adjustment in Africa: The Political Economy of Sustainable and Democratic Development, New York: Praeger, 1992, pp 149-168.
17. Zack-Williams, ibid.
18. J Macrae & A Zwi. 'Famine, complex emergencies and international policy in Africa: an overview', in Macrae & Zwi (eds), War and Hunger: Rethinking International Responses to Complex Emergencies, London: Zed, 1994, p 22.
19. Zack-Williams, 'Sierra Leone: the deepening crisis', p 29.
20. Stevens was always aware that full implementation could unleash social forces beyond his control.
21. Derek Partridge, former British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, as quoted in Jane Knight's, 'Sierra Leone: will hope triumph over experience?', One World Link Newsletter, June 1996, p 7.
22. A B Zack-Williams, Tributors, Supporters and Merchant Capital: mining and Capital: mining and underdevelopment in Sierra Leone, Aldershot: Avebury, 1995, p 191.
23. These would all be key social actors in the impending civil war.
24. For a chronology of the events loading up to the civil war in Liberia, see Stephen Ellis, Liberia 1989-94: a study of ethnic and spiritual Violence, op cit.
25. A Zack-Williams & S Riley, 'Sierra Leone: the coup and its consequences', Review of African Political Economy, 56, 1993, p 93.
26. P Richards, 'Understanding insurgency in Sierra Leone (and Liberia)', paper presented at the Conference on Conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia, University College London, December 1995, p 1. See also P Richards, Fighting for The Rain Forest: War, Youth & Resources in Sierra Leone, Oxford: James Currey, 1996.
27. P Richards, 'Understanding insurgency in Sierra Leone (and Liberia)', paper presented at the Conference on Conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia, University College London, December 1995, p 1. See also P Richards, Fighting for The Rain Forest: War, Youth & Resources in Sierra Leone, Oxford: James Currey, 1996.
28. P Richards, 'Understanding insurgency in Sierra Leone (and Liberia)', paper presented at the Conference on Conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia, University College London, December 1995, p 1. See also P Richards, Fighting for The Rain Forest: War, Youth & Resources in Sierra Leone, Oxford: James Currey, 1996.
29. Ibid.
30. M Duffield, 'The political economy of internal war: asset transfer, complex political emergencies and international aid', in Macrae & Zwi (eds), War and Hunger, pp 50-69.
31. P Richards, 'Anarchists or catalysts?', West Africa, 20-26 February 1995, p 266.
32. RUF, Footpaths to Democracy, p 15.
33. See P Lubeck's, 'Islamic protest under semi-peripheral capitalism: 'Yan Tatsine explained', Africa, 55(4), 1985, p 369-389, for the rise of millenarianism in Kano, Northern Nigeria.
34. Ibid, pp 20-35.
35. Ibid, p 24.
36. A Zack-Williams, Tributors, Supporters and Merchant Capital: Mining and Underdevelopment in Sierra Leone, Aldershot: Avebury, 1995, p 181.
37. Amnesty International (AI), 'Sierra Leone: the extrajudicial of suspected rebels and collaborators', 29 April 1992; and US Department of State, Sierra Leone Country Report on Human Rights and Practices for 1997', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, 30 January 1998.
38. Amnesty International (AI), 'Sierra Leone: the extrajudicial of suspected rebels and collaborators', 29 April 1992; and US Department of State, Sierra Leone Country Report on Human Rights and Practices for 1997', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, 30 January 1998.
39. Zack-Williams & Riley, 'Sierra Leone: the coup and its consequences'.
40. AI, 'Sierra Leone: the extrajudicial killing of suspected rebels and collaborators'.
41. This was not the only Ghanaian flavour to the NPRC coup. A number of Sierra Leoneans exiled or living in Ghana quickly returned home to assist the junta. Among these were veteran coup plotter Major Jumu, and Muctar Mustapha. See Zack-Williams & Riley, 'Sierra Leone: the coup and its consequences'.
42. S Riley, 'Liberia and Sierra Leone: anarchy or peace in West Africa?', Conflict Studies, 287, February 1996.
43. J Harding, 'The mercenary business: "Executive Outcomes", Review of African Political Economy, 24(71), 1997, pp 87-99.
44. Riley, 'Liberia and Sierra Leone'.
45. S Riley, 'Sierra Leone: the militariat strikes again', Review of African Political Economy, 24(72), 1997, pp 287-292.
46. There were other ethnic fighters who joined forces against the rebels: the Kapras, Tamaboros and the Badonsos.
47. Riley, 'Sierra Leone: the militariat strikes again', p 288.
48. A Tejan Kabba 'Restoration to democratic civilian rule in Sierra Leone', speech given at the Conference on Sierra Leone, 20 October 1997.
49. These were known as the Neutral Monitoring Group, under Article 11 of the Abidjan Accord.
50. Major Johnny Paul Koroma, dawn broadcast, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service, 25 May 1997.
51. R First, The Barrel of The Gun: Political Power and The Coup D'état, Penguin African Library, Penguin Books, 1972.
52. West Africa, 2-8 June 1997, p 868.
53. West Africa, 14-20 July, 1997, p 1118.
54. Ibid.
55. M Wesseells, 'Child soldiers', Bulletin of the Africa Scientists, Chicago, IL, November/December 1997.
56. Goodwin-Gill & I Cohn, Child Soldiers: The Role of Children in Armed Conflicts, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.
57. Richards, Fighting for the Rain Forest. Richards' criticism was directed in particular against Robert Kaplan's widely publicised essay on the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
58. Ibid, p XXV.
59. There are, however, some exceptions. See the pioneering work of Caroline Bledsoe, ' "No success without struggle": social mobility and hardship for foster children in Sierra Leone', Man, New Series, 25(1), 1990, pp 70-88.
60. PEA, Bras, Greens and Ballheads: Interviews with Freetown "Street Boys", Freetown: PEA, 1989.
61. In this respect Sierra Leone is not an exception. Child soldiers have featured in social movements in Liberia and Uganda. See Goodwin-Gill & Cohn, Child Soldiers.
62. A B Zack-Williams, 'Female labour and exploitation within African social formations', in Women in Nigeria Today, London: Zed, 1985, pp 61-67.
63. Bledsoe, ' "No success without struggle" ', p 73.
64. J el Bushra & E Piza-Lopez, 'Gender, war and food', in Macrae & Zwi, War and Hunger, pp 180-193.
65. Ibid, p 181.
66. Ibid. But see also F Fanon, The Wretched of The Earth, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971.
67. Ibid. But see also F Fanon, The Wretched of The Earth, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971.
68. Zack-Williams, 'Female labour and exploitation within African social formations'.
69. UNICEF, The Children and Women of Sierra Leone: An Analysis of Their Situation, Vol 1, Freetown: Ministry of National Development and Economic Planning and UNICEF, 1989.
70. S Kroma, 'Factors influencing school enrolment and attendance in rural communities in Sierra Leone, with implications for the country-wide implementation of the National Primary Curriculum', UNDP/UNESCO Primary Education Reform Project SIL/87001, Njala University College, Sierra Leone, as quoted in K Bar, 'The impact of the war in Sierra Leone on rural women and girls', mimco, 1997.
71. P Richards, Coping With Hunger.: Hazard and Experiment in An African Rice-Farming System, London: Allen and Unwin, 1986.
72. El Bushra & Piza-Lopez, Gender, war and food'.
73. US Department of State, Sierra Leone Country Report.
74. Ibid.
75. M Duffield, 'The political economy of internal war', p 58.
76. Ibid, p 58.
77. Editorial, 'Democracy, civil society and NGOS', Review of African Political Economy, 55, 1992, pp 3-7.
78. Richards, Fighting for The Rain Forest, p XXV.