Football and Post-War Reintegration: exploring the role of sport in DDR processes in Sierra Leone

Abstract

Growing enthusiasm for ‘Sport for development and peace’ (sdp) projects around the world has created a much greater interest among critical scholars seeking to interrogate potential gains, extant limitations and challenges of using sport to advance ‘development’ and ‘peace’ in Africa. Despite this interest, the role of sport in post-conflict peace building remains poorly understood. Since peace building, as a field of study, lends itself to practical approaches that seek to address underlying sources of violent conflict, it is surprising that it has neglected to take an interest in sport, especially its grassroots models. In Africa, football (soccer) in particular has a strong appeal because of its popularity and ability to mobilise individuals and communities. Through a case study on Sierra Leone, this paper focuses on sports in a particularly prominent post-civil war UN intervention—the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (ddr) process—to determine how ex-youth combatants, camp administrators and caregivers perceive the role and significance of sporting activities in interim care centres (iccs) or ddr camps. It argues that sporting experiences in ddr processes are fruitful microcosms for understanding nuanced forms of violence and healing among youth combatants during their reintegration process.

Notes

1 Personal interview conducted by the author with ddr camp administrator, Bo, 1 July 2005.

2 Personal interview conducted by the author with male youth combatant, Bo, 21 July 2005.

3 T Ali & R Matthews (eds), Durable Peace: Challenges for Peacebuilding in Africa, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005; B Ghali, An Agenda for Peace, New York: United Nations, 1992; R Muggah, ‘Emerging from the shadow of war: a critical perspective on ddr and weapons reduction in the post-conflict period’, Contemporary Security Policy, 27(1), 2006, pp 190–205; Muggah (ed), Security and Post-conflict Reconstruction: Dealing with Fighters in the Aftermath of War, London: Routledge, 2009; T Keating & AW Knight, Building Sustainable Peace, Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2004; R Paris, At War's End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004; P Paris & T Sisk, The Dilemmas of Statebuilding: Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations, London: Routledge, 2009; and N Tschirgi, ‘Post-conflict peacebuilding revisited: achievements, limitations and challenges’, paper presented at the ipa Peacebuilding Forum Conference, New York, 7 October 2004.

4 Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace: preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peacekeeping, New York: United Nations, 1992.

5 United Nations Inter-agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace, Sport for Development and Peace: Towards Achieving Millennium Development Goals, New York: United Nations, 2003; and B Kidd, ‘A new social movement: sport for development and peace’, Sport in Society, 11(4), 2008, pp 370–380.

6 See, for instance, http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/sport/dpko. See also unicef's sport programmes that target ex-combatants in Liberia and elsewhere; and http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/human-rights/education-of-children-in-need/projects-by-region/africa/liberia-sports-centre-for-former-child-soldiers/.

7 D Black, ‘The ambiguities of development: implications for “development through sport”’, Sport in Society, 13(1), 2010, pp 121–129; S Darnell, ‘Power, politics and “sport for development and peace”: investigating the utility of sport for international development’, Sociology of Sport Journal, 27(1), 2010, pp 54–75; R Levermore & A Beacom, Sport and International Development, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009; Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group (sdpiwg) Secretariat, Literature Reviews on Sport for Development and Peace, Toronto: sdpiwg, 31 August 2007.

8 PK Gasser & A Levinsen, ‘Breaking post-war ice: open fun football schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina’, Sport in Society, 7(3), 2004, pp 457–472; K Hoglund & R Sundberg, ‘Reconciliation through sports? The case of South Africa’, Third World Quarterly, 29(4), 2008, pp 805–818; J Sugden, ‘Teaching and playing sport for conflict resolution and co-existence in Israel’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 41(2), 2006, pp 221–240; and sdpiwg, Literature Reviews on Sport for Development and Peace .

9 Sudgen, ‘Teaching and playing sport for conflict resolution and co-existence in Israel’, p 221.

10 Hoglund & Sundberg, ‘Reconciliation through sports?’.

11 For literature on the sport–nation-building nexus in Africa, see D Black & J Nauright, Rugby and the South African Nation: Sport, Culture, Politics and Power in the Old and New South Africas, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998; D Black & J van der Westhuizen, ‘The allure of global games for “semi-peripheral” polities: a research agenda’, Third World Quarterly, 25(7), 2004, pp 1293–1309; G Armstrong, 2002, ‘Talking up the game: football and the reconstruction of Liberia, West Africa,’ Identities, 9(1), 2004, pp 471–494; Armstrong ‘Life, death and the biscuit: football and the embodiment of society in Liberia, West Africa’, in G Armstrong & R.Giulianotti (eds), Football in Africa: Conflict, Conciliation and Community, London: Palgrave Macmillan 2004; and Armstrong & R Giulianotti, Football in Africa.

12 Richards suggests that soccer ‘offers a neutral space through which combatants and society at large might begin to seek some mutual accommodation in a “shared space” before getting down to the hard tasks of reforming specifically Sierra Leonean social identities and social understandings’. P Richards, ‘Soccer and violence in war-torn Africa: soccer and social rehabilitation in Sierra Leone’, in G Armstrong & R. Giulianotti (eds), Entering the Field: New Perspectives on World Football, Oxford: Berg, 1997, p 149.

13 J Galtung, ‘Violence, peace and peace research’, Journal of Peace Research, 6(3), 1969, pp 167–191; and Galtung, Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization, Oslo: International Peace Research Institute, 1996. Some further qualification on Galtung's notion of structural violence is necessary. Sometimes he uses the term ‘social injustice’ interchangeably. Note Galtung's distinction between structural violence and physical violence: structural violence is distinct from physical violence—the former being measured by the number of deaths caused from bodily harm by group conflict or war. As cited by Galtung, an example of physical violence might be when a ‘husband beats his wife’, in contrast to structural violence, whereby ‘a husband deliberately keeps his wife in ignorance’. ‘Violence, peace and peace research’, p 171. He also cautions against using the word ‘exploitation’ as a replacement for structural violence, since the latter is less politically charged and more amendable to facilitating communication than the word ‘exploitation’.

14 Galtung, ‘Violence, peace and peace research’, p 168.

15 This leaves socioeconomically deprived individuals in a ‘state of permanent, unwanted misery, usually including malnutrition and illness', Galtung, ‘Violence, peace and peace research’, p 171; see also Galtung, Peace by Peaceful Means, pp 197–200.

16 For definitions of human security, see United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report, New York: undp, 1994. For a critique of human security, see R Paris, ‘Human security: paradigm shift or hot air?’, International Security, 26(2), 2001, pp 87–102.

17 Muggah, Security and Post-conflict Reconstruction; and United Nations, Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards, New York: United Nations, 2006.

18 M Berdal, Disarmament and Demobilization after Civil Wars, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996; M Berdal & D Ucko (eds), Reintegrating Armed Groups After Conflict: Politics Violence and Transition, London: Routledge, 2009; Muggah, Security and Post-conflict Reconstruction; United Nations, Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards (iddrs), New York: United Nations, 2006; and Stockholm Initiative on Disarmament Demobilization Reintegration (siddr), Final Report, Stockholm: Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 2006.

19 J Spear, ‘Disarmament and demobilization’, in S Stedman, D Rothchild & E Cousens (eds), Ending Civil Wars: The Implementation of Peace Agreements, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2002, pp 28–36.

20 iddrs, 2006, p 6.

21 Ibid, p 19.

22 Berdal Disarmament and Demobilization after Civil Wars; and N Colletta & R Muggah, ‘Rethinking post-war security promotion’, Journal of Security Sector Management, 7(1), 2008, pp 1–25.

23 A Baare, An Analysis of Transitional Economic Integration, Working Paper, Stockholm: siddr, 2005, at http://www.sweden.gov.se/content/1/c6/06/54/02/05d5985b.pdf, accessed 12 June 2009; siddr, Final Report; and L Speaker, Reintegration Phase of ddr Processes, The Hague: Netherlands Institute for International Relations, 2008.

24 Muggah, Security and Post-conflict Reconstruction.

25 K Jennings, Seeing ddr from Below: Challenges and Dilemmas Raised by the Experiences of Ex-Combatants in Liberia, Oslo: fafo, 2008; and J McMullin, ‘Reintegration of combatants: were the right lessons learned in Mozambique?’, International Peacekeeping, 11(4), pp 625–643.

26 M Humphreys & J Weinstein, ‘Demobilization and reintegration’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 51(4), 2007, pp 531–567; Muggah, Security and Post-conflict Reconstruction; iddrs 2006; and siddr, Final Report.

27 iddrs, 2006.

28 M Denov, Child Soldiers: Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front, London: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp 149, 158. The final report of the truth and reconciliation Commission notes that, of the total number of children disarmed, 3710 had been with the ruf, 2025 with the cdf, 471 from the sla, 427 with the afrc and 134 were from other factions or non- affiliated. See Denov, Child Soldiers, p 158, footnote 6.

29 A Abraham, ‘Dancing with the chameleon: Sierra Leone and the elusive quest for peace’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 19(2), 2001, pp 205–222; and D Keen, Conflict and Collusion in Sierra Leone, New York: Palgrave, 2005.

30 Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Witness to Truth: Report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2004, at www.trcsierraleone.org/drwebsite/publish/index.shtml.

31 Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, Precious Resources: Adolescents in the Reconstruction of Sierra Leone, New York: Women's Commission on Refugee Women and Children, 2002.

32 TS Betancourt & KT Khan, ‘The mental health of children affected by armed conflict: protective processes and pathways to resilience’, International Review of Psychiatry, 20(3), 2008, pp 317–328; S McKay & D Mazurana, Where Are the Girls? Girls in Fighting Forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their Lives during and After War, Montreal: International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, 2004; and M Wessells, Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.

33 R Brett & I Specht, Young Soldiers: Why They Choose to Fight, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2004.

34 TS Betancourt, S Simmons, I Borisova, S Brewer, U Iweala & M.de la Soudiere, ‘High hopes, grim reality: reintegration and the education of former child soldiers in Sierra Leone’, Comparative Education Review, 52(4), 2008, pp 656–684; Betancourt & Khan, ‘The mental health of children affected by armed conflict’; and McKay & Mazurana, Where are the Girls?.

35 iddrs 2006.

36 J Hanlon, ‘Is the international community helping to recreate the preconditions for war in Sierra Leone?’, The Round Table, 381, 2005, pp 459–472; M Silberfein, ‘The geopolitics of conflict and diamonds in Sierra Leone’, Geopolitics, 9(1), 2004, pp 213–241; and United Nations Development Programme, ‘Draft Country Programme Document for Sierra Leone 2008–2010’, undp, New York, 2008.

37 Berdal, Disarmament and Demobilization after Civil Wars; M Knight & A Ozerdem, ‘Guns, camps and cash: disarmament, demobilization and reinsertion of former combatants in transitions from war to peace’, Journal of Peace Research, 41(4), 2004, pp 499–516; and R Muggah, ‘No magic bullet: a critical perspective on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (ddr) and weapons reduction in post-conflict contexts’, The Round Table, 94, pp 239–252.

38 This section draws heavily on Denov, Child Soldiers; Keen, Conflict and Collusion in Sierra Leone; and L Gberie, A Dirty War in West Africa: The RUF and the destruction of Sierra Leone, London: Hurst & Company, 2005.

39 Denov, Child Soldiers.

40 D Molly, The ddr Process in Sierra Leone: An Overview and Lessons Learned, Freetown: United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, 2004; and Denov, Child Soldiers.

41 Article XVI of the Lomé Peace Accord (1999) stipulated a ddr process targeting the ruf, sla, cdf and paramilitary groups. These child and youth combatants went through a formal disarmament and demobilisation process managed by a National Commission for the Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration (ncddr) and overseen by external peacekeepers. The Lomé accord called for the ruf to immediately cease fighting and disarm under the authority of the UN-backed ncddr in exchange for a general amnesty blanket for all forces. Controversially several key government posts were to be allocated to rebel leaders, while guaranteed rights were extended to transform the ruf into a legitimate and legal political entity. ruf leader Foday Sankoh was appointed chair of the new government body that oversaw diamonds and natural resources.

42 D Miller, D Ladouceur & Z Dougal, From Research to Road Map: Learning from the Arms for Development Initiative in Sierra Leone, Geneva: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 2006.

43 Denov, Child Soldiers, p 159.

44 E Berman, Re-Armament in Sierra Leone: One Year After the Lomé Peace Agreement, Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2000, p 24.

45 M Malan, S Meek, T Thusi, J Ginifer & P Coker, Sierra Leone: Building the Road to Recovery, Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2003.

46 As the UN Secretary General's report on Sierra Leone in 2000 states, before May 2000 there was a shortage of $19 million in the Multi-donor Trust Fund administered by the World Bank.

47 Personal interview conducted by the author with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005

48 Knight & Ozerdem, ‘Guns, camps and cash’.

49 Denov, Child Soldiers; and Humphreys & Weinstein, ‘Demobilization and reintegration’.

50 Several group activities were organised in the camp, including group prayers (often in the morning, or evening before bed), story-telling, and occasional musical dances, drama events, ball dances and cultural shows.

51 Later in the camp the camp administrators organised several community development initiatives with communities in the immediate vicinity. The purpose was to promote reconciliation and acceptance with the community. In some cases this involved community projects to rebuild roads and infrastructure, schools, clinics and water pipes. For instance, a undp-funded programme called ‘Community Action for Post-Conflict Recovery’, which hired ex-combatants to provide assistance to war-affected communities.

52 Personal interviews conducted by the author with camp administrators, Freetown, 16 June 2005; Bo, 23 June 2005.

53 Personal interview conducted by the author with camp administrator, Freetown, 15 June 2005. Such trades included carpentry, masonry, auto mechanic, welding, computer training, tailoring, hairdressing, etc. Combatants were expected to develop skills and gain work experience for re-entry into civilian life. It was believed that once trained, ex-combatants would return to their community and put to use the skills they had developed. According to my interviews, youths stayed in the camps for a period of three to six months on average. These accounts closely correspond with those of other scholars who have examined the process. See K Peters, ‘From weapons to wheels: young Sierra Leonean ex-combatants become motorbike taxi-riders’, Journal of Peace, Conflict and Development, 10, 2007, pp 1–23, who suggests that combatants received vocational trade for a period of six to eight months.

54 Civic education is seen as a key issue in post-conflict reintegration. Education is regarded as essential for fostering peaceful social relations and social reconciliation after violent conflict. See Denov , Child Soldiers. In the camp individual combatants were permitted to return to school based on their former level of study. Logistically this meant that those interested in returning to school received basic education during the encampment phase and were provided with funding to pay school fees for between one to three years. Personal interviews with camp administrators, Freetown, 16 June 2005; Bo, 1 July 2005.

55 K Peters, ‘From weapons to wheels’.

56 Personal interview conducted with camp administrator, Freetown, 12 July 2005.

57 Personal interview conducted with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

58 Personal interviews conducted with male combatants, Bo, 13 June 2005; 17 June 2005; 14 July 2005.

59 Personal interviews conducted with camp administrators, Freetown. 16 June 2005; Bo, 23 July 2005.

60 This is the krio word for draughts, which is basically the old British name for checkers.

61 Personal interviews conducted with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005; personal interview with male combatant, Bo, 17 June 2005; personal interview with camp administrator, Bo, 23 June 2005. It was noted unequivocally that females did not become engaged in fighting or violence in the same way as their male counterparts did.

62 Camp norms included: participants were forbidden from destroying camp property, from using violence against camp personnel or other youth, and from possessing weapons.

63 Personal interview with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

64 Personal Interview with male combatant, Bo, 14 July 2005.

65 Personal interview with male combatant, Bo, 21 July 2005.

66 Personal interview with camp administrator, Bo, 23 June 2005.

67 Personal interview with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

68 Personal interview with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

69 Personal interview with camp administrator, Bo, 23 June 2005.

70 Personal interview with male youth combatant, Freetown, 17 June 2005.

71 Personal interview with male youth combatant, Bo, 21 July 2005.

72 Personal interview with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

73 Denov, Child Soldiers.

74 Personal interview with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

75 Potes are popular youth hangouts, often located in slum areas of towns, where individuals socialise, drink palm wine and smoke marijuana. Before the war, potes were infamous sites for discussing revolutionary philosophies for unemployed and marginalised populations. I Abdullah, ‘Bush path to destruction: the origin and character of the Revolutionary United Front/Sierra Leone’, Journal of Modern African Studies, 36(2), 1998, pp 203–235.

76 Personal interview with camp administrator, Bo, 23 June 2005.

77 As an administrator in Bo stated: ‘We tried to encourage them to stay in the compound because of the mentality of the community. They would call them rebels and that would make them go wild. But we found this difficult. This is why we introduced games, so they wouldn't leave the campus. And once they would exhaust themselves from the games, they would stay in. The more they stayed within the camp, the more the violence between the home and the neighborhood decreased.’ Personal interview with camp administrator, Bo, 23 June 2005.

78 Personal interview with camp administrator, Bo, 23 June 2005.

79 One particular instance almost turned catastrophic. One infamous match took place on ‘Shelmingo’ football pitch against the sons of a nearby police unit. It is worth noting in detail. In a match organised in the local police compound, the game started off in a friendly manner. However, after several hard fouls, supporters of the other team called the camp players ‘corrupt boys’. A fight broke out and some ddr youth returned to their compound to collect more fighters. They returned with stones and small weapons. A military police officer was called in to intervene. According to interviews with some males involved in the fight, the military officer blamed the ddr youths for instigating the violence. Some ddr youths responded by disarming the officer. It was only after a Reverend was summoned that the youths were persuaded to let the officer go. Information from interviews with male youth combatants, Bo, 12 July 2005; 14 July 2005; 21 July 2005, and informal conversations with camp administrators in Bo.

80 This administrator explained: ‘We the caregivers (teachers, administrators) came together, and made a plan of activities for two weeks of sensitisation. We determined what we were going to tell people, if we ask a question, this is how it should be answered. If you don't know, find a way in putting it so that one of us can answer it.’ Personal interview with camp administrator, Bo, 23 June 2005.

81 Personal interview with camp administrator, Bo, 23 June 2005.

82 Personal interview with female youth combatant, Bo, 7 July 2005.

83 Personal interview with female youth combatant, Bo, 6 July 2005.

84 An example of a ‘quick impact’ project is a community development initiative such as road maintenance or infrastructure building. According to a camp administrator who oversaw some of these projects, ‘the youths need to be given short-term rewards in order to build up their confidence in themselves, and to know that they are progressing’. Interview, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

85 Personal interview with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

86 Personal interview with camp administrator, Freetown, 16 June 2005.

87 N Ball & L van de Goor, Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration: Mapping Issues, Dilemmas and Guiding Principles, Report of the Conflict Research Unit for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2006; and L Specker, ‘The R-phase of DDR processes: An overview of key lessons learned and practical experiences’, Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ Conflict Research Unit, 2008.

88 Personal interview with male combatant Bo, 14 July 2005.

89 Personal interview with female youth combatant, Bo, 6 July 2005.

90 C Carpenter, ‘Recognizing gender-based violence against civilian men and boys in conflict situations’, Security Dialogue, 37(2), 2006, pp 83–103.

91 To paraphrase one of the camp administrators in Bo, males would often engage in ‘womenising’, which involved competing over and bragging about women, and engaging in abusive behaviour within the neighbouring community while celebrating at the conclusion of a football match.

92 Carpenter, ‘Recognizing gender-based violence against civilian men and boys in conflict situations’. That said, these patterns of violence can be mistakenly interpreted as ‘natural’ for male child combatants; this assumption is false, as gender-based violence often reflects broader forms of systemic violence that is socially constructed according to gender ideas and roles.

93 For instance, in registering, disarming, discharging and supervising ex-combatants and making it easier for them to disband fighting forces and command and control structures.