Nation building is not a short term exercise

Liberia 2003: Charles Taylor and other war leaders slaughtered entire villages. Terrible images of these child soldiers, with expressionless faces, capable of killing without any emotion.... 14 years of war, 300 000 deaths: Liberia, a country born out of a dream of freedom, had become a nightmare. The United Nations decided to intervene massively, to end this bloodbath... In January 2006, Ellen Johnson successfully tackled the footballer, George Weah, during democratic elections, thus becoming the first ever elected female Head of State in Africa. Peace seemed to have been restored; fragile, unstable and tenuous peace that is only being maintained thanks to the deployment of the second largest United Nations Force in the world. The rate of poverty in Liberia is still so high that the country remains dependant on humanitarian aid. But this country is still weighed down by major uncertainties. Its future depends largely on the continuing effort which has been undertaken by the International Community and by the Liberians themselves.

A year ago, the streets of Monrovia proudly displayed posters of the election candidates. Roads were in an appalling state, living conditions were unacceptable, but the Liberians were full of hope. War was fading away, as were the surreal images of children under the influence of drugs, killing and mutilating human beings. After so many years, the war has left its mark on 3 million people. A year on, despite massive aid from the International Community, anyone who crosses the country and its capital will have the impression that nothing has really changed.

However, when talking to those who are actually in the country, attempting to change things, it is clear that they have a completely different perception. For them, a lot has been accomplished, as some of the difficult and unrewarding actions which need to be carried out before even starting to rebuild the country, have already been achieved.

Security was the main priority after the war, as nothing can be achieved until it has been established. Firstly, the United Nations in Liberia (UNMIL) deployed 14,000 military troops. Among these, the Special Forces played an important role: with a limited number of troops, they were always ready to respond to new outbreaks of violence, thanks to their professionalism and resourcefulness. According to the Secretary-General of UNMIL, Allan DOSS, the result is spectacular: “We have re-opened the country. Now, you can travel anywhere in the country without being afraid of violence, or at least without coming across gangs or organised factions,” he stated. At least this is what the situation appears to be like from his office....
The best way to guarantee security was of course to disarm the ex-fighters. This was a difficult and costly program, nevertheless, it seems to have been successful, at least regarding weapons of war.
In order to maintain security, it is now essential to re-establish a Liberian Police Force. The UN is responsible for this task. Its target to have 3500 men by next June could seem rather modest. However, Allan Doss explains that the country needs to be able to finance this itself. “We don’t want an underpaid, underequipped Police Force. Having a large Police force does not necessarily guarantee better security”. But still, for a country with 3 million inhabitants, such a small Police Force could seem insufficient. “This corresponds to the police/population ratio of neighbouring countries,” Doss argues. According to the Accra Agreements, the army was placed under US responsibility. It is still far from being ready to replace foreign forces. However, these measures have so far allowed peace and order to be maintained in the country and have ensured political stability after the January 2006 elections.

The delicate matter of how to judge war crimes was dealt with using the South African model. Ellen Johnson rejected the idea of an ad hoc tribunal and preferred to appoint a commission for peace and reconciliation. This relative impunity towards former war leaders probably caused frustration. It did however allow them to become political leaders and to enter into the game of democracy. This is the case for example for blood-thirsty Prince Johnson, elected senator of Nimba with an overriding majority. “Liberia is no longer a fail state, even though it remains a fragile state.”
As the situation has stabilised, 400 000 displaced people have been able to return home, and all the camps have been closed. However, even the authorities agree that where infrastructure is concerned, the results are not so good.
The electricity network is working again in Monrovia. There are no longer any cases of severe malnutrition, even though certain problems with supplies remain.
The government is making a considerable effort in terms of health, but the results are limited, since it has a modest budget. As the Health Minister declared: “Health is a priority in the State budget. Out of all the ministerial budgets, the largest amount has been allocated to Health (8.3%), with the second largest amount being given to Education (7%)”. However, as with security, the essential part continues to come from foreign intervention, emergency NGOs in particular, who have remained in the country since the end of the war. Médecins du Monde decided to start a mission in the Bong in 2004, when this region was not protected by UN Forces.
So that the infrastructure can be rebuilt, the World Bank has a budget of 85 million dollars. In order to limit corruption, it set up an organisation to control public spending, GEMAP, which ensures the correct financial governance by Liberian leaders and has the power to impose sanctions.
Alongside this economy, which is dependant on international aid, a local economy linked essentially to the exportation of raw materials (ore, rubber and wood) is gradually emerging.
All the embargos have been lifted, except those on weapons and diamonds.
This very positive picture is constantly being promoted by UN workers. No one can deny that action has been taken. However, when leaving the air conditioned offices, we have a completely different perception of the situation. What has been done is clearly not enough. In view of how large the needs are, these programmes are modest, even derisory. The war has destroyed 90% of Liberia’s wealth (in comparison, the Great Depression only caused western economies to decline by about 10%). Before the war, GDP per capita was the same as in Thailand. Today, it is merely $150 per inhabitant. In face of such needs, international aid is minimal, it is therefore not surprising that a large majority of Liberians have the impression that they have not benefited from any of it. You only have to wander around the capital to see how much poverty ordinary people are fighting against.

On Broad Street, the main road in Monrovia, a lot of buildings are in ruins. At every set of traffic lights, there are people trying to sell sweets and cigarettes. Hotel Ducor, an old luxury hotel overlooking Monrovia, shelters 2500 people who are struggling to survive in this strange place that has now become a squat. The swimming pool is being used to dispose of waste, but the putrid smell doesn’t stop children from playing there. The government buildings are a little further along the road, and even though they are still in use, they bear the marks of war. The walls are decrepit, shelves in offices are empty, and there are very few chairs. On Randal Street, the shops owned by Lebanese people offer a wide range of clothing, office stationery and electrical appliances. But the shoppers are not Liberian. Then, there is the extremely popular Wat-San district, which is on the edge of the lagoon. Children queue in front of the only well. Each of them in turn fills their buckets with water. People all around are in good spirits, and it is contagious. Finally, we come to Red Light Junction, a dodgy district where gang leaders and all sorts of drug dealers get by living in bamboo huts.
However, it is quiet, or rather relatively quiet. Why is this? Last summer, the government had to face a strong upsurge in violence. To cope with it, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called out popular militia. Here, law and order is now in the hands of “Vigilante”; half gang leaders, half policemen. Their only weapon is the terror they arouse because of their past. But even if their methods to arrest people are brutal, the Red Light district is now under control. Drugs are still around of course, and the rate of unemployment stands at almost 100%. Red Light harbours under its fragile buildings a major part of Monrovia’s criminality. No one is impressed by the UN night patrols. Where drugs are being sold, the streets are too narrow to drive down....
It is easy to understand that the security issue is far from being resolved. Admittedly, political violence has almost disappeared. But a high rate of criminality still remains, especially in shanty towns. Moreover, job offers are still very limited. Ex-fighters are tempted to take up arms again, either to serve a faction or for their own purposes.

The Police is still unable to control the situation on its own and the Army is almost nonexistent. Everything still rests on the dissuasive effect of foreign troops. What would happen if the troops were withdrawn?
Everyone seems to be aware of the fact that the country is in a dangerous situation between war and peace, a kind of a ‘non- zone’, where nothing is certain. Although the population is war weary, a builder - sometimes employed as a gravedigger - did tell us that “Sometimes, there are periods in between war and peace. So if you ask me if we are really at peace, well, peace implies many things. It is not just about the silence of the weapons. Peace is linked to economic survival. Here many of us are unemployed. A singer said ‘When you’re hungry, you could eat...someone who is hungry’. So when people are hungry, they are ready to do anything to survive.”
Moreover, the authorities’ apparent stability cannot hide its fragility. Tensions between communities are still strong, and although most of the leaders are willing to play the game of democracy, they could easily become war leaders again if the situation becomes unstable or if their personal interests are at stake. This is why lifting the embargo on diamonds is a very delicate issue. For years, this mining wealth has fed intense corruption and played a major part in triggering the war. The situation has not really changed and it is possible that in the future the same causes could produce the same effects.... When pushed, the Secretary-General of UNMIL admits that corruption is still present in the country, and, Liberians find it hard to bear the permanent control by GEMAP. They have good reason to fear that the country may be put under supervision, and they demand autonomy. It is a thin line between the governments’s legitimate will to rule the country and the risk of seeing corruption undermine Liberia once more. This ambiguity affects every sector of humanitarian aid. NGOs are being criticized for their lack of coordination. The same inhabitant told us: “There is absolutely no coordination between NGOs. In some areas, there are several NGOs doing the same thing. They should cover the whole country. In Gran-Zu for example, there are no NGOs at all!”
But, at the same time everyone dreads the departure of the NGOS, and criticises the gradual withdrawal of emergency donors like ECHO. Even Allan Doss notes bitterly: “During war times, it is easy to collect funds for one simple reason: people are dying.” Today emergency funds are drying up, it has become much more difficult to find money for development. The World Bank appears to donate a lot with its $84 million, and indeed, if it was emergency funding, it would be considerable. But when it comes to reconstruction, this amount is almost derisory.

The recovery of the market economy is not in itself a factor of prosperity for the country. It is still necessary for economic operators to pay taxes and to keep on increasing the national wealth. So far, according to their contracts with the government, firms operating in the country were nearly exempt from all taxes, like Arcelor-Mittal which exploits mines but doesn’t bring any money to the country. The crisis of the economy of assistance is a reality during this phase between war and peace. The only way to truly consolidate Liberian power is to enable it to have funds from the national economy at its disposal. Implementing an effective fiscal system will take a long time, and this reform is even more complex as investors are rare and no one wants to take the risk of scaring them away.
What is the case for foreign firms is also the case for national executives. There are many Liberian graduates in the diaspora, but they are still frightened to come back, especially in the health sector. There are only about 30 Liberian doctors in the whole country....
Even though health is a priority in Liberia, it remains a highly devastated sector. A gynaecologist of JFK Hospital told us: “Because of the war, almost all institutions were destroyed. They were looted. We are just coming from the war, we just had an election so government has a lot to do despite the international NGOs that came around, and have refertilized the institutions, which is very important. The greatest need would be drug and medical supplies. Logistics. Because no matter how you equip your hospital, no matter how much skilled manpower you have, if you don’t have drug and medical supplies, you won’t be able to save the lives of your patients.”

Due to a lack of hygiene, poor quality food, especially in cities and the massive use of hard drugs, there is an increase in serious illnesses which are very hard to treat. Even though the emergency phase - with its large renutrition centres- is over, the sanitary conditions remain those of a country without an infrastructure. A withdrawal of NGOs or other cooperation would create conditions for a new disaster.
Some establishments, such as prisons, are even more precarious. Despite the reform of the judicial system praised by the UN, courts are not numerous and work slowly. There are about 15 prisoners cramped in every cell, in atrocious conditions. When visiting the Monrovia Central Prison, desperate screams could be heard coming from the cells: “we’re suffering, we haven’t been judged, WE’RE SUFFERING”. This is an accurate reflection of the state of this country and enables us to feel the prisoners suffering. Even if the Head of the Prison authorities declared : « The living conditions of the inmates improved a lot because now we make sure that they eat on time, we get the prison subsistence every months. We work with the CAU (Correction advanced Unit)… on our own meal system. We really try to treat our boys, our correctional officers. We have trained almost 75 correctional officers, male and female, and WFP providing food for the prison system and the government allocated sums of money for the prisons. We have medication for them, lots of medicines; we just got 5000 medicines for them. And we make sure that every cell is well, and neat. Not every time because of the crowdness of the cells but every day it’s ok. There is improvement.” This rather optimistic point of view contradicts the reality of every day life.
For the moment, violence remains limited to basic crimes, committed for economic and personal reasons. But could this violence one day take on a political character? Could ex-fighters become fighters once again, if not for a cause, at least for an organized faction? This possibility cannot be ruled out and the evolution of the opposition is worrying. George Weah’s spokesman, the leader of one of the opposition parties, is saying things that sound like a warning: “There are a lot of children who had arms and they are left alone in the wilderness to wander. People who armed them, today in this government, even the passed government, they have fabulous job, some of them took millions of dollars, look at the children, do you know who they turn too. They turn to George Weah, they see him as a hope, and they see him as a rescuer and a last “triumph” card”. Does this mean that, one day, the leaders of the opposition could try to federate the dissatisfied people whose only culture and maybe only hope is the use of weapons? No one can tell, but the risk does exist.

Today, Liberia is the perfect example of a country which is nearing peace. War is over; but violence remains. There is a discrepancy between international optimism and what the country is actually like. Why such optimism? Is it to justify disengagement? It could be the reason, because there are some major uncertainties regarding the future of the International Force. Will it be renewed next year? This is far from certain. The disengagement of the international donors is also on the agenda. ECHO is turning to crises in other parts of the world, and seems to consider that the worst is over in Liberia. Numerous NGOs are disengaging, and in doing so, are abandoning their mission. Moreover, they are making their ex-staff unemployed once more (it is estimated that jobs generated by NGOs represent approximately 20% of the current job market) Ellen Johnson knows very well that the next few months will be critical. In an open letter to be sent on February 14th to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in New-York, she urges the International Community not to abandon her country now. Let’s hope our testimony will help her to be heard...

Valerie Dupont, December 2006

Paolo Pellegrin / Magnum Photos