Monrovia – Since 2009 the Government of Liberia and partners continue to address several broad critical conflict factors through various peace building frameworks including the Strategic Roadmap, Liberia Peacebuilding Program (LPP) and the Agenda for Transformation (AFT), informed by desk reviews and consultations.
Land conflicts, weak and dysfunctional justice system; over centralization of governance, mismanagement of natural resources, weak relations between the state and citizens, condition of youth, especially with regard to employment, and lack of shared national vision.
The Ebola crisis has added to the existing conflicts – stigma and discrimination; burning of dead bodies which has affected the culture and some of the traditions of Liberians.
Based on strategic programming needs, Government and partners have agreed for the LPP and the National Reconciliation Roadmap, to be reviewed and revised to reflect the prevailing peace building context.
The first national conflict mapping was done in 2008 as technical assistance to the TRC – funded by the European Union. Since 2006, remarkable progress has been made to address the root causes of conflicts in Liberia including building state institutions and consolidating peace, but conflict issues remain pervasive across the country.
Consolidating peace in the wake of UNMIL transition in June 2016, and the 2017 national elections, makes it imperative to re-prioritize Peace building and reconciliation programs and interventions.
The government of Liberia in order to robustly tackle the issue of conflict and maintain the peace in the absence of the United Nation Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), it has put in place program title the National Conflict Mapping Exercise (NCME) that will uncover number of conflict issues around the entire country for possible peace building.
Giving an over view of the NCME over the weekend at the official Launch of the NCME in the Conference Room of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Acting Executive Director of the Peace Building Office at the Internal Affairs Ministry, Mr. Edward Mulbah, described the program as another form of taking the government to the people.
He said the proposed national conflict mapping exercise will produce conflict analysis report containing county-specific conflict drivers and triggers produced; looming conflicts with potential to undermine national peace and stability identified; underlying root causes of civil war not yet addressed identified, and informed realignment/revision of Government strategic peacebuilding and reconciliation programmes, strategies and policies.
He noted that the NCME will produced result of strengthened national debate and broaden theory of reconciliation.
The Acting Executive Director of the Peace Building Office at the Internal Affairs Ministry, Mr. Edward Mulbah says a number of 36 trained researchers will be deployed simultaneously to work in the 15 Counties at county, district and community/village levels, saying, the entire mapping project takes 3 months.
He noted that it will also target a sample size of 3,500 respondents of individual interview in 163 Enumeration Areas. according to him Both quantitative and qualitative tools will be adapted, saying, thirty (30) Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and 30 key informant interviews (KII) Researchers will use Personal Data Assistant for the individual interview; moderators and note takers will use electronic recorder for the focus group discussions Collaborate with the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS).
Also speaking, Internal Affairs Minister Dr. Henrique Tokpa described the launch of the NCME as important in the history of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
he said the program is important to the Interior Ministry, saying as an entity of government playing a central role in coordinating and leading the peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts on behalf of the Government with support from both national and international partners and institutions including the UN and donor community, government and partners launched the NCME project to conduct a comprehensive conflict mapping and analysis across Liberia.
The Internal Affairs Minister noted that the initiative is consistent with the Government of Liberia’s position on 2nd December 2015 to the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission in terms of moving forward during the next 2-3 years with its peacebuilding programs.
He said the move also brings to realize recommendation of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to the Peacebuiding Commission of the United Nations on how to support peacebuilding in Liberia most effectively, saying results of the conflict analysis would likely inform future PBC and PBF priorities.
Main purpose of the National Conflict Mapping Exercise
Since its inauguration in January 2006, the Government of Liberia has taken deliberate and concrete steps to address the root causes of conflict in Liberia as well as potential conflict triggers.
The efforts of the government have contributed to reconcile the Liberian people, promote a cohesive society, and fosterer lasting and genuine peace, security, and development. The government has always noted that “durable and lasting peace is the sine qua non of Liberia’s transformation and development” (PRS page 21).
In May 2006, the government with support from the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducted an inter-agency workshop to identify and discuss the root causes of conflict that led to the 14 years civil war in Liberia.
This workshop involved various institutions of government, civil society organizations, political parties and religious institutions as well as traditional leaders, elders, and partners, and at least eight key conflict factors were identify and recommendations were highlighted to address them.
These conflict factors were highlighted in the United Nations Common Country Assessment report of June 2006, and in the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy of 2007.They also guided priority interventions of the government and the UN in addressing these conflict factors.
Liberia was placed on the agenda of the PBC in September 2010, following a request by the Government of Liberia. A Country Specific Configuration for Liberia was established, followed by a Statement of Mutual Commitments (SMC) by the Government of Liberia and the PBC in November 2010.
The SMC comprises the parties’ joint commitments in the areas of the rule of law, security sector reform and national reconciliation, highlighting in particular the need for enhanced engagement in light of UNMIL’s transition.
The SMC also provides the basis for the Liberia Peacebuilding Programme (LPP) between the Government of Liberia and the UN, which is partially funded by the PBF. Currently, the SMC is being updated to reflect new thinking and issues under the three peacebuilding priorities already mentioned.
Government peacebuilding priorities and programs are informed by 7 critical conflict factors: land conflicts, condition of youth, especially with regard to employment, mismanagement of natural resources, weak relationship between the state and its citizens, weak and dysfunctional justice system, the lack of shared [national] vision, poverty and food insecurity, and the challenge with regional dimension.
Nevertheless, while Liberia has made remarkable progress in building state institutions and consolidating peace since the end of hostilities in 2003, conflict issues remain pervasive across Liberia. Liberia has just concluded its post-Ebola recovery plans supported by the UN and other partners, in the midst of UNMIL transitioning in 2016, as well as the 2017 national elections.
It is therefore imperative that the Liberia’s peacebuilding and reconciliation strategies, programmes and interventions moving forward are better informed by a rigorous nation-wide conflict mapping and conflict analysis exercise.
The national-wide conflict mapping exercise will allow for a systematic and empirical process in which Liberian conflict issues and potential conflict drivers are identified across Liberia, and critically analyzed to help design county-specific peace and reconciliation programs and interventions.
This comprehensive conflict analysis will be led by Peace Building Organization (PBO) with support from the South-African organization, African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), together with other national and international partners including UNDP, UNMIL amongst others.
The outcomes of the conflict analysis will assist with the identification of more specific areas of UN and donor interventions in the future. Dr. Tokpa at the program launch says he wants to seize the occasion to thank ACCORD and the Peace Building Fund (PBF) and other partners for providing the funds to implement this project.
“We look forward to your continued engagements of the process to its logical completion in terms of field work, and of course, to the implementation of programs informed by the results,” he noted. He wished to therefore request support and commitments of all government institutions in the implementation of the national conflict mapping exercise, as well as its results thereafter.
By these, and on behalf of the Government of Liberia and its national and international partners, we herewith launch this national exercise.
Edwin G. Genoway, Jr./ [email protected]
