Managing Chaos in the West African Sub-Region: Assessing the Role of ECOMOG in Liberia

Authors

  • David Carment School of International Affairs, Carleton University
  • Rasheed Draman Department of Political Science, Carleton University

Abstract

The West African sub-region is a troubled region with Liberia as the epicenter of most of the conflicts currently raging on in that region. This piece is an assessment of ECOWAS' efforts to bring peace to Liberia. The focus of the study is the ECOMOG's intervention in Liberia from 1990 to 1997. We argue that the course of ECOWAS diplomacy in Liberia was fraught with problems and growing pains; the result of a lack of a cease-fire on the ground before the force was deployed; the absence of a clear and enforceable mandate and divisive regional power politics and the absence of the much expected American leadership. These shortcomings notwithstanding, ECOMOG's efforts in Liberia have helped the region as a whole. The net result has been a rapid but positive learning experience for the peacekeeping nations of West Africa, improved regional stability and an emerging regionally based conflict management capacity.

Author Biographies

David Carment, School of International Affairs, Carleton University

David Carment, was a World Peace Foundation Fellow at Harvard University 2000-2001. He is currently the Director of the Centre for Security and Defence Studies (CSDS) at Carleton University, Ottawa and a professor of International Affairs at Carleton University. He continues to serve as the principal investigator for the Country Indicators for Foreign Policy (CIFP) project. He is a member of the Board of Directors for The Forum on Early Warning and Early Response (www.fewer.org). His most recent work focuses on conflict prevention capacity building (see the working paper series at www.idrc.ca); developing risk assessment and early warning training manuals for NGOs and Regional Organizations (see www.carleton.ca/cifp) evaluating models of third party intervention (see www.carleton.ca/~dcarment/index.html).

Rasheed Draman, Department of Political Science, Carleton University

Rasheed Draman is currently finishing his Ph.D. in Political Science at Carleton University. His doctoral dissertation is a comparative study of f our cases of Conflict Prevention in Africa. Mr. Draman has a BA (First Class) from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana and an MA in International Relations from the International University of Japan. Before joining the Parliamentary Centre, Mr. Draman worked as Consultant for the Africa Branch and the Peacebuilding Unit of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Mr. Draman's interests include the links between poverty and insecurity, governance and conflict prevention. He has written extensively on these issues. He also teaches Development and Conflict (part-time) in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University.

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Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2003): Fall 2003

Section

Articles