Liberian Civil War II: 1999-2003

Summary: Less than two years after the first Liberian civil war (1989-1997) ended with the inauguration of Charles Taylor as president, a band of dissidents operating from a base in Guinea attacked villages in northern Liberia in 1999. Organized under the name Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), former commanders of rebel groups that had opposed Taylor in the first civil war invaded Liberia in September 1999, occupying villages in the northwest. Much as Taylor had proceeded during his revolt a decade earlier, the LURD fighters continued to advance, leading Taylor to declare a state of emergency in February 2002. LURD's one and only clear priority was the removal of Taylor as president. They accused him of failing to live up to terms of the peace agreement that ended the earlier civil war, and specifically of excluding his former foes from his government and armed forces. Under international pressure as an accused war criminal for activities in neighboring Sierra Leone, Taylor agreed to leave office in summer 2003, taking refuge in Nigeria under a negotiated end to the conflict.

The second Liberian civil war, from 1999-2003, was in many respects a continuation of the first (1989-1997). Militia groups that opposed Charles Taylor in the first conflict-many of whom had ethnic ties to the regime of dictator Samuel Doe, the leader in the 1980s whom Taylor eventually deposed-launched attacks on northern Nigerian villages starting in 1999, gradually gaining territory and advancing on the capital, Monrovia. The main rebel group for most of the second civil war was Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD); in the last months of the war, from April 2003, a second group emerged from LURD dissidents. It was named Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).

The majority of fighters in both insurgent groups were from two ethnic groups: the Mandingos and the Krahns. The latter group had been dominant during the 1980s dictatorship of one-time Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, who took power in a military coup in 1980. Most Mandingos were Muslims, Krahns were mostly Christians, but religion did not play a role in the conflict. And despite the domination of these two ethnic groups, LURD also welcomed fighters from other ethnic groups, including former fighters of Taylor's insurgent group in the first civil war. LURD's sole aim, according to its second leader, was the expulsion of Taylor from power.

Key Players

Charles Taylor, president of Liberia (elected in 1997, at the end of the first Liberian civil war) and main target of rebel groups. During the course of the second Liberian civil war, Taylor was actively supporting rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone, and he was eventually charged with war crimes by a Special Tribunal set up by Sierra Leone with support from the United Nations. During the second Liberian civil war Taylor controlled several separate armed forces: the regular Armed Forces of Liberia; the Liberia National Police; the Antiterrorist Unit (ATU), an elite group that included fighters from Burkina Faso, Gambia, and former fighters in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a combatant in the Sierra Leone civil war, as well as experienced guerrillas from the first civil war; and the Special Security Service, an executive protection corps. In June 2003 Taylor was indicted, and an arrest warrant was issued, by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, a war crimes tribunal established in Sierra Leone with the approval of the United Nations. The indictment accused Taylor-at the time, still sitting as president of Liberia-of direct responsibility for the behavior of the Sierra Leone rebels he had supported. Two months later, in August 2003, Taylor agreed to resign as president of Liberia under a deal to end Liberia's civil war that had been negotiated by Nigeria. Under the agreement Taylor moved to Nigeria, which had granted him asylum. There he lived in a house with guards, but not under house arrest, for the next 2-1/2 years. In March 2006 Taylor was arrested by Nigerian border guards near the border with Chad; he had evidently been trying to leave the country for fear of being arrested on the war crimes charges. He was initially transferred to Sierra Leone before his trial was moved to The Hague in the Netherlands for security. As of August 2009 his trial remained ongoing.

Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), the principal rebel group that launched the second civil war from neighboring Guinea in 1999. LURD was organized in July 1999 and mainly comprised Liberian exiles, mostly veterans of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) guerrilla faction of the first civil war (1989-1997) who had gone into exile in Guinea, claiming that Charles Taylor had violated the 1997 peace agreement (see separate Background Information Summary on the Liberian Civil War I in this database). Although LURD was eventually joined by other groups, its military commanders were almost all veterans of ULIMO. During the first civil war, ULIMO had split into factions, one led by Alhaji Kromah (ULIMO-K) and one led by Roosevelt Johnson (ULIMO-J). LURD also represented a reunification of these two factions, both of which had formally disbanded after the Abuja peace agreement of 1997. Also in common with ULIMO, LURD was dominated by two ethnic groups: the Krahns, who had dominated the dictatorship of Samuel Doe in the 1980s, and the Mandingos, both from northern Liberia. Significantly, although most Mandingos are Muslims and most Krahns are Christians, religion did not play a role in either Liberian civil war. LURD made a point of encouraging members of other ethnic groups to join, and some did: former fighters of the Independent Patriotic Front (IPF), some former members of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, which had been Charles Taylor's guerrilla group in the 1990s, and even veterans of the Liberian armed forces. The first leader of LURD was Mohammed S. K. Jumandy, elected in 1999, having promised to raise $1 million to finance the group. After he failed to do this, he was forced out and replaced by Sekou Damate Conneh, Jr. as national chairman and commander-in-chief. Conneh was an ethnic Mandingo, a businessman, and a former bureaucrat in the Ministry of Finance. Conneh's wife, Ayesha Conneh, also played a key role in LURD. She was a citizen of Guinea and the principal spiritual adviser to the president of Guinea, Lasana Conte, which assured LURD access to Conte-and helped cement Conneh's position at the head of the organization.

The Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), led by Thomas Nimely, emerged towards the end of the second civil war, invading Liberia from the Ivory Coast in April 2003. This activity in particular caused widespread displacement of civilians in southern Liberia. MODEL split from LURD in March 2003, mostly along ethnic lines, with most MODEL members coming from the Krahn ethnic group, while a majority of LURD fighters were Mandingos. MODEL was about one-third the size of LURD, although under the comprehensive peace agreement negotiated after Taylor's departure from office in summer 2003, MODEL held an equal share of power with LURD. [Former members of Taylor's government also held a one-third share of power under the agreement.) In the new government, Nimely became foreign minister.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional trade and development organization, continued to play a peace-keeping role in Liberia during the second civil war as it had during the first civil war. ECOWAS sent peace-keeping troops to Liberia in both conflicts, as well as helped mediate a peace agreement at a meeting in Accra, Ghana, in 2003. Nigeria, one of 15 ECOWAS members, provided most of the peace-keeping troops. ECOWAS members include Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

The United Nations also sent peace-keeping troops to enforce the truce achieved after Taylor resigned.

Issues

Opposition to Charles Taylor was the main, and perhaps only, driving force behind the main rebel group, LURD. A British analyst, James Brabazon, wrote of LURD's leader in 2003: "Sekou Conneh appears to be neither sophisticated nor overly intellectual. LURD are not in any sense characterized by political or ideological polemic or grandiose intentions. Conneh's political position, and that of LURD in general, is limited and succinct: Charles Taylor must be removed from power. This is the linchpin of the rebels' political program, whether by force or of his own volition, Taylor must stand down. Until this happened, Conneh stated repeatedly and emphatically, there would be no negotiation or compromise with Taylor whatsoever. Although he signaled his willingness to negotiate and cooperate …[in negotiations] the precondition for any ceasefire or direct political engagement with the president remained unwavering: Taylor must first leave office." LURD refused to participate in a presidential election scheduled for 2003, insisting that Taylor had rigged the results in advance.

Diamonds played an important role in the second Liberian civil war and in the simultaneous civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. Liberian President Charles Taylor was widely accused of helping finance rebels in Sierra Leone by taking diamonds in exchange for arms. Eventually the United Nations imposed a ban on sale of so-called "blood diamonds" from Liberia in an effort to cut off this source of funding.

Condensed Chronology

Less than two years after Charles Taylor took office as president of Liberia, formally ending the first civil war (1989-1997), a group of Liberian dissidents based in Guinea, calling themselves the Joint Forces of Liberation for Liberia, attacked villages in northern Liberia and took several international aid workers hostage in April 1999. Later that year, in July 1999, exiled Liberians meeting in Freetown, Sierra Leone, organized a new group: Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD; see above). At the time, Taylor was accused of actively aiding-and providing sanctuary to-rebels fighting the government of Sierra Leone under the name Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Just over a year after its founding, LURD launched attacks on villages in Lofa County, in northern Liberia. Thus, at the start, the second Liberian civil war had aspects of a conflict between the established government of Sierra Leone and the government of Charles Taylor.

In May 2001, responding to the support by Taylor's government of rebels in Sierra Leone-Taylor was accused of supplying Sierra Leone rebels with arms paid for with diamonds-the United Nations imposed an arms embargo on Liberia.

In February 2002 Taylor declared a state of emergency, reflecting gains made by LURD guerrillas in the northwest. They continued to advance towards the capital, Monrovia.

In June 2003 began a rapid-fire series of events that led to the end of the second Liberian civil war-and the end of Charles Taylor's presidency. On June 4 a Special Court for Sierra Leone indicted Taylor for war crimes, viz. overseeing atrocities committed by RUF guerrillas in Sierra Leone. Two days later, June 6, LURD launched its first attacks on Monrovia. On June 17 representatives of Taylor's government, LURD, and the newly formed MODEL meeting in Accra, Ghana, sign a cease-fire agreement. A week later, on June 24, the cease-fire ended with a new LURD attack on Monrovia. A new agreement was signed in Accra on June 24.

On July 4, 2003, the military leaders of ECOWAS nations (see above) agreed to send 3,000 troops to Liberia to oversee the truce. On July 6, Taylor agreed to resign and leave Liberia. Under a negotiated agreement, Taylor went to Nigeria, where he was given asylum. But before he left, on July 19 LURD launched a third assault on Monrovia. The attack killed more than 1,000 civilians and displaced 600,000.

On August 4, 2003, the first contingent of African peace-keepers arrived from Nigeria. On August 11 Taylor formally resigned, giving power to his vice president. One week later, on August 18, 2003, leaders of the three warring parties-the government, LURD, and MODEL-signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Under the agreement, a neutral, Gyude Bryant, headed a transitional government.

On September 19, 2003, the Security Council authorized 15,000 UN peace-keepers to be sent to Liberia (although the UN had trouble raising this number of troops). The first UN peace-keepers arrived on October 14. In December the United Nations launched a national disarmament program for the former combatants. The program, including a three-month hiatus, was formally ended on October 31, 2004, saying that almost 100,000 Liberians had surrendered their weapons. In November 2004 the three warring parties in the second civil war were formally disbanded.

In October 2005 an internationally-supervised presidential election was held, followed by a run-off between the top two candidates in November. The winner of the run-off election was Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who on January 16, 2006, was inaugurated as Liberia's (and Africa's) first elected female president.

Bibliography

Brabazon, James. "Liberia: Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD)." The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Armed Non-State Actors Project Briefing Paper No. 1. February 2003. http:www.chathamhouse.org.uk/file/3733%5Fbrabazon%5Fbp.pdf

Cook, Nicolas. "Nigeria's Post-War Recovery: Key Issues and Developments." Congressional Research Service: Report. August 0, 2007. 63p. International Security and Counter-Terrorism Reference Center. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=27524821&site=ehost-live

Kieh, George Klay, Jr. "The Roots of the Second Liberian Civil War." International Journal on World Peace. 26:1 (March 2009) 24p. International Security and Counter-Terrorism Reference Center. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=38018233&site=ehost-live