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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Politics and Diplomacy of Peacekeeping in West Africa: The ECOWAS Operation in Liberia
Author:Adeleke, AdemolaISNI
Year:1995
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:33
Issue:4
Period:December
Pages:569-593
Language:English
Geographic terms:West Africa
Liberia
Subjects:civil wars
ECOWAS
peacekeeping forces
Military, Defense and Arms
Inter-African Relations
Economics and Trade
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/161822
Abstract:In 1990 ECOWAS decided to intervene in the civil war which had broken out in Liberia. Its strategy to resolve the conflict followed two parallel but mutually interactive channels - making and enforcing peace. The former involved negotiations and arbitration; the latter the deployment in August 1990 of a 3,000 strong multinational force to supervise a cease-fire. Nothing in the history of ECOWAS had prepared it for either of these roles. As a regional economic organization, it lacked the institutions and procedures which could provide the framework for the operation in Liberia. The competing interests and objectives of Nigeria, the architect of the ECOWAS Cease-fire Monitoring Group (Ecomog), Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso brought to the fore some of the historically determined divisions in the subregion. This not only impeded the effectiveness of the whole peace process, it also strained the organization's cohesion. This article explores the various ways that the member-States dealt with these issues. It examines the extent to which the dynamics of intraregional politics and diplomacy, as well as the nature of ethnicity in Liberia, affected the peace process, and how these were resolved. The concluding section assesses the potential for using the ECOWAS operation as a model for conflict resolution in Africa. Notes, ref.
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