getting ready to go...

Well, i'm down to the final few days before i leave for the summer and i've finally started to really get things organized (which doesn't make for a very exciting 'blog post'.. but i thought i should have something up anyway.. mainly to see how this blog thing works). As most of you know already, I'm spending this summer in Ghana teaching in a refugee camp, and I am hoping this will be an easier way to keep everybody posted on what I'm up too. There will be internet in the camp but electricity is sporadic so who knows how frequent i'll get on this...

I'll be in ghana on may 15 (i'm spending a couple days in amsterdam beforehand) and am going to be overthere until august 15. i'll be spending most of my time working in buduburam refugee camp, a camp just west of the capital city, Acra. This camp is currently home to about 30 000 Liberian refugees who have been living there for as long as 18 years (crazy to think thats about how long I've lived in Kitchener... really puts things in perspective). I'm working with an organization called Children for a Better Way (there is a link to it on the right side) that basically aims to work with children in the camp who are unable to afford the education provided in the camp. A lot of these kids will have lost their families to one of Liberia's two civil wars...

I'm getting school credit for this placement (goes towards a major in Global Development Studies) and as such, I had to do a pre-placement paper that did a really general overview of the civil wars, as well as general Liberian and Ghanaian history. Anyway, I've copied part of this paper onto this post if anybody is interested in learning this history.. Liberia's war, and more specifically, Charles Taylor's rule in the country had huge implictions on the rest of West Africa, many of which we still feel today (the first war only started in 1989..).


HISTORY...
Liberia is an anomaly in Africa’s colonial record, in that a European power has never officially colonized it. Instead, it was an unofficial American colony created in 1816 by the American Colonization Society (ACS) (Weisberger 46). The ACS, an organization comprise of white American-loyalists and Evangelical men, wanted to create an area outside America that would absorb freed American slaves, whom they deemed to be an “idle and useless” segment of their society (Weisberger 46). This became a reality in 1847 with the declaration of the Republic of Liberia, a country led for the next century by an elite class of mulattos, otherwise known as Americo-Liberians, who governed in favour of American corporate interests (Lloyd 229).

Liberia remained relatively stable for a century despite the chaos inflicted by World Bank-led Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) across the rest of the continent (Weisberger 47). In 1980 however, a coup against Americo-Liberian President William Tolbert, led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, broke this stability. Doe’s government, while symbolic of Liberian independence from America, quickly transformed into a corrupt and nepotistic regime favouring Krahn speakers while persecuting the Gio and Mano ethnic groups (McDonough 363). Resistance movements, notably the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Samuel Taylor, began to flourish in neighbouring countries. Taylor, who was armed and funded by Libya and working in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso with the support of Mano and Gio people, led a December 24, 1989 rebellion against Doe, overtaking much of Liberia within the first six months (Lloyd 230). Taylor’s rapid and ruthless advancements prompted the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to form and deploy the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) as a counter-Taylor force. While ECOMOG successfully stopped Taylor’s forces from entering the capital, Monrovia, it too became involved in dishonest politics that reduced its overall credibility (Lloyd 231). Taylor came to win the July 1997 presidential elections, a product of the Abuja Accords, allegedly winning 75% of the popular vote. While these accords ostensibly set up a transitional democratically elected government, Taylor was likely victorious only because he threatened that if not elected, he would resume the war (Lloyd 231) that had killed at least 150 000 and displaced over 365 000 (Morris 30). Subsequent years under Taylor’s rule were witness to unprecedented levels of favouritism, government corruption, greed and the expansion of Liberia’s civil war into the neighbouring states of Sierra Leone and Guinea (Lloyd 231).

By 2002, amid international condemnation and sanctions directed at Taylor, two new anti-Taylor rebel movements emerged in Liberia: the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). The two movements began independently launching attacks on Taylor in 2003, sparking Liberia’s second descent into civil war. ECOWAS responded quickly to this outbreak initiating peace talks in June and deploying 4300 troops in and around Liberia (International Crisis Group). Internal and external pressure worked to push Taylor into exile in Nigeria on August 11, 2003 with a National Transitional Government, led by Guyde Bryant, replacing him (International Crisis Group). The United Nations Security Council launched the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) first in October 2003 and then again, after an initial failure, in November 2004 (Robinson 27). Since 2004, Liberia has taken significant strides towards rebuilding the country and reinforcing peace. Arguably, its greatest accomplishment has been the internationally recognized democratic election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in 2005 who, as Africa’s first female President, has implemented a series of relatively successfully economic, anti-corruption and identity building reforms (Witcher 44). The Sierra Leonean Special Court has since indicted Taylor for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law; he currently awaits trial at The Hague, Netherlands (Human Rights Watch).

Ghana, relative to Liberia, has been politically and economically stable since the 1980s. It was the first African state to obtain independence from British colonial rule in 1957, inspiring a Pan-African spirit and independence struggles that influenced the American civil rights movement (Commander 424). While the post-independence decades were subject to military coups and political assassinations, conflict remained at the elite level of politics, with few implications for daily functioning (Svanikier 129). Ghana made the formal transition to democracy in 1992; it expanded political freedoms, conducted free and fair elections, and institutionalized constitutional bodies (Svanikier 115). Currently, President John Kufuor from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is serving his second term as leader of Ghana. Realism, pragmatism and honesty have come to characterize his presidency, which, while criticized for lacking charisma, has brought about an unprecedented level of stability and legitimacy to Ghanaian politics (Versi 54).

In an economic sense, proponents for SAPs cite Ghana’s experience with the programs, beginning in 1983, as an example of their efficacy (Chhibber and Leechor 24). The years immediately following their implementation witnessed positive real and per capita growth; (Chhibber and Leechor 24) however, long-term analyses have noted the contrary, highlighting the connection between the programs, national debt and a lack of social services (Ankomah 500). In light of this downfall, economic restoration has become a central tenet of Kufuor’s presidential aspirations. He is committed to transforming Ghana, a state that already holds a high level of international business confidence, into an African financial centre and a middle-income country (Ford 54). While some criticize Kufuor’s 2015 timeline as unrealistic, many believe his overarching ideas to be attainable in subsequent decades (Ford 54).

Buduburam refugee camp has existed between these two promising yet polarized West African states since 1990. Historically, the Ghanaian government has been liberal in granting refugee and asylum, working in compliance with the 1967 protocol of the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and with the UNHCR (United States Department of State). Following the declaration that Liberia was safe, 100 000 of the 850 000 Liberian refugees returned to their home country (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008). Despite this initial surge, recently tension has risen between refugees and the Ghanaian government in response to its attempts to push a policy of Liberian assimilation into Ghanaian society (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008). On March 17, 2008, the Ministry of Interior arrested 630 Liberians and deported 16, who had been involved in a one-month protest against this policy (Inegrated Regional Information Networks April 9, 2008). They had recently petitioned the UNHCR, asking for repatriation into a third country or the provision US$1 000 per person to be put towards a return to Liberia; Ghana had previously offered US$100 (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008).

Ghanaian officials, offended by the seeming ingratitude of the refugees who had lived in the country for as long as two decades, responded by invoking a clause in the 1951 Refugee convention that, in light of Liberian stability, frees Ghana from the obligation to host Liberian refugees and closes local UNHCR offices (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008). By March 2008, the Ghanaian and Liberian governments had reached an agreement that slowed the increasing number of Liberian deportations from Ghana in exchange for the repatriation of 40 000 refugees to Liberia, ideally within six months (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008). The practicality of this agreement remains questioned; the Liberian economy is only just stabilizing and many worry about the impact of a 40 000-refugee influx into Liberia (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008).