Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic, became better known in the 1990s for its bloody civil war that killed more than 200,000 people by 1996. Accord Issue 1 documents the lengthy and fractious 1990–96 peace process and explores why 13 separate peace accords collapsed in half as many years.Authors analyse the impact of economic forces and the erosion of civilian power on the conflict, as well as outlining and assessing the successes and failures of local peace initiatives and international interventions.
Liberia
Liberians forming a queue to place their vote in presidential and parliamentary elections.
Tabs
Featured publications
Authors
Andy Carl, Executive Director
Andy co-founded Conciliation Resources in 1994 with David Lord and heads the organisation. He led the development of programme work in Fiji, Bougainville/Papua New Guinea, northern Uganda, Somaliland and Sri Lanka, and established the Accord publication series.
Before this he worked for International Alert (1989–94) on peace initiatives in southern Africa, Europe, Liberia, the Philippines, Colombia, Iraqi-Kurdistan and elsewhere. Before that, he was national coordinator of the Central America Human Rights Committee, UK (1986–89).
He has degrees in literature from the University of California, Berkeley (BA) and Trinity College, Dublin (MPhil). Andy represents Conciliation Resources in various national and international policy forums on conflict transformation practice.
He is also a member of Conciliation Resources' board. This arrangement, agreed with the UK Charity Commission, is reviewed annually by the board. Unusual for a British charity, it is intended to recognise the principle of staff ownership of Conciliation Resources and the valuable contribution Andy can make to its governance.
Charles Abiodun Alao
Charles Abiodun Alao is a lecturer at the Department of War Studies at King's College, University of London. He completed his PhD as a Ford Scholar at King's College in 1992. He is author of African Conflicts: The Future Without the Cold War (London: Brassey Publishers, 1993) and Brothers at War: Dissidence and Rebellion in Southern Africa (London: British Academic Press, 1994).
Jeremy Armon
Jeremy Armon is the outgoing Series Editor of Accord. Prior to joining Conciliation Resources in 1996, he worked on conflict issues in the Oxfam Policy Department and did research on conflict and governance at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, where he also obtained his MPhil. He now lives in Uganda.
Max Ahmadu Sesay
Max Ahmadu Sesay holds a PhD in international relations from the University of Southampton, UK (1993). He taught at the universities of Sierra Leone and Southampton in 1989/90 and 1992/93 respectively. He is a research fellow and lecturer at Staffordshire University. His research interests include war, development and regional security in Africa. He is author of several scholarly articles on Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Samuel Kofi Woods II
Samuel Kofi Woods, II is national director of the Justice and Peace Commission established in Monrovia in November 1991 by the Catholic Church of Liberia. He received the 1994 Reebok human rights award. He was evacuated from Liberia in April 1996 with assistance from numerous international organisations. He has since been prominent in initiating campaigns for the restoration of peace in Liberia.
