The civilian target in Sierra Leone and Liberia: Political power, military strategy, and humanitarian intervention

Abstract

This article traces one of the logics of the ongoing war in the Mano River region of West Africa. It argues that, in the wake of humanitarian interventions in Sierra Leone, combatants who moved on to fight in Liberia were more likely to use attacks against civilians in their military strategy. It suggests, however, that such tactical military choices are to be understood in terms of local contexts of meaning, most notably about the nature of political power. The author's own ethnographic work with the kamajor militia in Sierra Leone and with Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) in Liberia serves as the basis for this analysis, and he advocates a participant-observation field methodology for the study of contemporary conflict.