West Africa: Roving Warriors Recruited for New Conflicts

West Africa: Roving Warriors Recruited for New Conflicts
Preventing New Atrocities Requires Ending the Cycle That Drives
Regional Mercenaries

(New York, April 13, 2005) ? Thousands of young men and boys,
many of whom have committed atrocities while fighting in West
Africa?s brutal civil wars, face re-recruitment into the region?s
emerging conflicts, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released
today. International efforts to disarm these fighters must provide them
with alternatives to war.

Côte d?Ivoire and Guinea, two countries marked by growing political
instability, are the current theaters into which these young fighters are
being drawn, according to Human Rights Watch.

The lives of these "regional warriors" are documented in a 66-page
report, "Youth, Poverty and Blood: The Lethal Legacy of West
Africa?s Regional Warriors." Based on interviews with some 60
former fighters who have crossed borders to fight in Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Côte d?Ivoire and Guinea, the report explores the forces driving
the phenomenon of cross-border mercenary activity in West Africa.

Since the 1980?s, impunity and impoverishment have fueled a pattern
of extreme violence in countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Cote d?Ivoire. Time and again, these fighters?most of whom began
their military "careers" as children after being forcefully abducted to
fight with an armed group?are drawn into the region?s conflicts.
Many of these fighters have gone on to commit war crimes and crimes
against humanity against civilians. Corrupt and repressive government
policies, as well as arms dealers flooding the region with weapons,
have given rise to further internal conflict.

"Breaking the cycle of atrocities in West Africa depends on disarming
these fighters, demobilizing them, and providing them with
alternatives to war," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at
Human Rights Watch. "Half-measures ensure that the international
community will face new calls for intervention in the region?s conflicts,
long after it?s too late to prevent new atrocities."

In the past year, well over two-thirds of the Liberian ex-combatants
interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they had been asked to
join fighting "missions" in Guinea and Côte d?Ivoire. Among those
recruited to fight in neighboring Guinea, about half had been
approached by commanders claiming to represent a fledgling Guinean
insurgency, and the other half by those claiming to be supporters of
Guinean President Lansana Conté.

Just last month, a Human Rights Watch mission to Liberia found that
hundreds of recently demobilized Liberians, including children, have
been re-recruited to fight in Côte d?Ivoire since October. According to
those interviewed in southeastern Liberia, they have gone to fight
alongside militias associated with the Ivorian government.

These young fighters are victims as well as perpetrators of serious
human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said. The report details
how after initial recruitment into a warring faction they were
submerged into a world of brutality, physical hardship, forced labor
and drug abuse. And it shows how they emerged as fighters willing to
rape, abduct, mutilate and kill civilians.

All of the combatants interviewed fought with groups that have, to
varying degrees, committed serious human rights crimes against
civilians, often on a widespread and systematic scale. The fighters
interviewed by Human Rights Watch had fought with such groups as
the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and Sierra Leone?s
Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Although these armed groups were
responsible for killing, raping or maiming tens of thousands of
civilians, the perpetrators have largely enjoyed impunity for the
atrocities committed.

When the youth interviewed were re-recruited into subsequent wars,
all were unemployed or living a precarious economic existence, and
were motivated by the promise of both financial compensation and the
opportunity to loot.

"We thought things would be ok, but they went bad again. There was
no food," said one Liberian combatant, who had fought in wars across
West Africa. "I had to feed my parents. The commanders said we
could pay ourselves, which meant looting."

Most interviewed received at least part of the financial compensation
offered by the recruiters, and all participated in and benefited from the
looting and pillage of civilian property?itself a war crime. Most
described using the money to pay rent, school and medical fees for
their extended family, and to engage in petty trading.

"The fact that war has become the only economic route for thousands
of youth points to serious failings by their countries? governments,"
said Takirambudde.

International efforts to disarm and reintegrate former fighters into their
home communities have so far had limited success, Human Rights
Watch said. The report identifies problems in the U.N.-led
disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs in Sierra
Leone and Liberia. The report details corruption by commanders and
disarmament program officials who diverted benefits earmarked for
their subordinates to themselves instead.

The young fighters interviewed for the report noted how these
programs lack adequate grievance procedures to address corruption.
They described how the shortcomings of the demobilization programs
have greatly contributed to their decision to take up arms in
subsequent conflicts.

The report also notes how a severe funding shortage in the Liberian
disarmament program has left some 40,000 combatants at risk of
missing out on job training and education, making them more
vulnerable for re-recruitment to fight in future armed conflicts.

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
go to: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/04/13/liberi10476.htm