15 Apr 2004: ISS Seminar: Building Peace in the Mano River Union States of West Africa: Prospects and Challenges, Pretoria
SEMINAR: BUILDING PEACE IN THE MANO RIVER UNION STATES OF
WEST AFRICA
PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES
Thursday, 15 April 2004
Presented by the
Despite progress made over the last two years towards restoration of peace
in the Mano River Union sub-region, guarantees of stability are still heavily
dependent on overcoming a number of challenges. After a decade of interconnected
armed conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and to a lesser extent Guinea, comprehensive
demilitarization remains a challenge not only for the states involved, but
also for West Africa and the wider international community. Given that the
easy back-and-forth movement of freelance fighters across the common borders
was, and still is, largely responsible for the proliferation of arms in all
three countries, the key to long-term security is effective policing of those
borders in ways that would also ensure free movement of law-abiding citizens
across the sub-region.
Drawing from insights gained during a recent month-long
research trip to the sub-region, this presentation reviews prospects and obstacles
to peacebuilding in one of the world’s most troubled sub-regions. The
deployment of more than half of the 15,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in
Liberia over the last six months, coupled with the formal conclusion of the
Sierra Leone war in 2002, will be weighed against the backdrop of growing fear
in the sub-region that Guinea may slide into chaos in the event that President
Lansana Cont é ’s
ailing health fails him. Issues of accountability for past atrocities will
also be analyzed within the framework of the transitional justice mechanisms.
In the case of Sierra Leone, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
and the Special Court, while in Liberia a TRC was established to deal with
the problem. The impact of these institutions on peacebuilding will be addressed,
as will the role of civil society in these processes.
Speaker: Abdul Lamin, Ph.D, CAIR, Wits University
Date: Thursday,
15 April 2004
Time: 11:00 – 13:00 (Refreshments will be served afterwards)
Venue: ISS, Block C, Brooklyn Court, Veale Street East, Pretoria (Map)
RSVP: Ms Dorette de Jager, email: [email protected]
Tel: (012) 346 9500, fax: (012) 460 0997
Parking is available at Brooklyn Mall & ABSA parkades
at your own cost.
This seminar is made possible by the generous funding
of the Department for International Development, UK.
