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ICG Warns Resurgence of Fighting in Sierra Leone

Concord Times (Freetown)
NEWS
December 13, 2004
Posted to the web December 14, 2004

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah
Freetown
The International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned that Sierra Leone and Liberia
may likely become shadow states vulnerable to new fighting and state failures
if the International Community fails to make long-term commitments that would
enable the development of new political forces in both countries.
"Sierra Leone and Liberia are failing to produce states that will be stable and
capable of exercising the full range of sovereign responsibilities on behalf of
their long-suffering populations," the ICG observed in its December 2004
Report.
ICG says both countries have failed to tackle underlying political dynamics.
"Individuals with criminal pasts are treated as viable political interlocutors,
and the judicial and law enforcement institutions aren't functioning
effectively making their repair without reform a no solution," the Report
stated, adding that new national militaries are untested and their adherence to
constitutional order remains uncertain.
The Group says a more radical strategy is needed because voices from civil
society activists who could catalyze real change are marginalized while the
economy is left vulnerable to criminal capture.
ICG calls on the International Community to give greater political
responsibility by helping to build non-political and professional law
enforcement and judicial institutions that would establish the rule of law,
protect civil rights and foster a public space within which citizens can hammer
out their own solutions.

   

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