Liberia: No War, Yet No Peace

Liberia ranks 80th out of 162 in this year’s Global Peace Index, (GPI) released Tuesday, this week. According to the London-based GPI, Liberia’s level of peacefulness increased after a reduction in political terror, despite an increase in military expenditure.

This news comes two months ahead of 10 consecutive years of peace following this country’s 14-year civil war that ended in August of 2003.

The nation’s 14-year civil conflict left at least 250,000 dead and was marked by unjustified violence – notably, the slicing of pregnant women’s bellies to determine the sex of their babies. Liberia is relatively peaceful, a decade later, but remains amongst the world's poorest countries, presaging (foretelling, predicting) a much longer march to trudge up the path of economic recovery.

The President, herself, has admitted that given its fragility, Liberia cannot claim to be fully at peace, “As we strive to meet raised expectations in a society where 60 percent of the population is [less than] 35 years of age, we must face the global reality that progress in achieving externally-driven reforms is a necessary but insufficient requirement for sustained peace,” which is more than the absence of war. 

The Sirleaf Administration has acknowledged that it has learned the hard way, that without a sense of security, everything else is remote – making it necessary that the administration prioritize putting its economic and financial house in order.

Of course, peace goes far beyond the cessation of all forms of hostility; peace also means that citizens feel safe, secure and are operating at full capacity. Unfortunately, Liberia is still lagging behind when it comes to achieving this for its people.

A US-based Berkeley University study on Liberians’ priorities for peace and development, conducted in late 2010 found a high degree of socio-economic inequality between Greater Monrovia and the rest of the country: compared to residents in the capital region, respondents outside of Greater Monrovia were two to three times more likely to have no education and belong to the poorest asset group. Women were more likely to have no education (45%) and be poorer (29% in poorest asset quintile) than men (respectively 25% and 18%).

Besides, Liberia ranks 162 out of 169 countries on the 2011 UN Human Development Index: with just over half of children are currently in school; 38 percent of the population is under-nourished; and the average per capita income is just over $1 per day.

In the contemporary context, threats to Liberia’s feeble peace include: inequality, insecurity, massive underdevelopment, unemployment, rape, tribal land disputes. Sadly, these issues are rife in the country. This makes it necessary for government to begin building the peace by tackling the roots of these problems: revamp its approach to service-delivery because the social services being provided are not reaching a bulk of the population; educate the youths, reduce poverty, and/or address land ownership issues.

Back to GPI 2013 Index

In the West African sub-region, Ghana ranks as the most peaceful (58th); followed closely by Sierra Leone (59th); and Togo (67th).

Among least peaceful countries in the region are Senegal, 85th, Burkina Faso, 87th; Equatorial Guinea, 89th; The Gambia, 93rd; and Benin, 104th. At the same time, Guinea ranks 116th; Mali, 125th; Niger, 127th; Guinea-Bissau, 132nd; Nigeria, 148th and Cote d’Ivoire taking the least place on the scale: 151st.

The GPI is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).  It gauges on-going domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society and militarisation in 162 countries by taking into account 22 separate indicators.

Globally, a dramatic rise in the number of homicides and more countries, 59, increasing their military expenditure as a percentage of GDP were the key drivers in making the world a less peaceful place, according to the 2013 GPI.  This year’s findings underline a 6-year trend showing a deterioration of 5% in global peace.  In this time 110 countries have seen their score deteriorate while only 48 became more peaceful.  The economic impact of this 5% loss in peace came at a cost to the global economy of US$473 billion last year, or the equivalent to almost four times Official Development Assistance (ODAs) in 2012.