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Abstract
Throughout the Liberian civil war (1989–2003), women and members of the religious community lobbied to participate in peace talks and organized public meetings, petitions, vigils, and marches. Liberian women insisting on a role in peacemaking were acting as agents and not as victims, countering what much of the academic literature suggests about responses by African women to conflict situations. The effect of women’s peacemaking activities and the religious community on the peace process is difficult to determine; much of their work was carried out behind the scenes. The Catholic Church has actively commended the region’s female peacemakers.
Notes
1. Mary Brownell, interview, May 11, 2009; June 20, 2006, Monrovia, Liberia.
2. I was a Fulbright scholar teaching and doing research in Sierra Leone in 2008–09, during which I re‐visited Liberia to complete interviews for this article.
3. Elizabeth Mulbah, interview, May 12, 2009, Monrovia, Liberia.
4. African Women and Peace Support Group, Liberian Women Peacemakers, 2.
5. Etweda Cooper, interview, June 20, 2006, Monrovia, Liberia. In contrast to remarks by Brownell, she did not mention God or faith, though I did not ask her any direct questions about those topics. In 2009, when I returned to Monrovia for a conference and conducted a second interview with several former women peacemakers for this article (Cooper could not be reached), I asked specific questions about the role faith and church played. The consistent answer was that it played an integral part in the planning and execution of their peace activities.
6. Louise M. Tucolon, interview, May 15, 2009, Monrovia, Liberia.
7. Cooper, interview, June 20, 2006.
8. Moran and Pitcher, “The ‘Basket Case’ and the ‘Poster Child,’” 504.
9. Doris Mpomou, a New York‐based researcher for the international women’s lobby group Women’s Environment and Development Organization, quoted in Mutume, “African Women are Ready to Lead,” 9.
10. Karam, “Women in War and Peace‐building,” 2.
11. United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, Women’s Advocacy.
12. It reads in part: “The resolution reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace‐building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post‐conflict reconstruction and stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security” (Resolution 1325, United Nations Security Council, October 31, 2000).
13. Anderlini, Women at the Peace Table, 5, 9–10.
14. McAdam, Political Process. In their book African Women’s Movements: Transforming Political Landscapes, Tripp et al. point to numerous examples of women’s activism in peacemaking efforts in Africa.
15. Sheikh Kafumbah F. Konneh, interview, July 7, 2006, Monrovia, Liberia. Konneh also served as National Chair of the National Muslim Council of Liberia, and later served as a Commissioner on the post‐war Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
16. African Women and Peace Support Group, Liberian Women Peacemakers, xii.
17. Sheikh Kafumba F. Konneh, interview, July 7, 2006.
18. See, for example, Berkeley, Liberia: A Promise Betrayed.
19. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sent a Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to Liberia in August 1990, as Taylor’s forces closed in on Doe’s Executive Mansion. The United Nations Monitoring Group in Liberia (UNOMIL) was established in the fall of 1993 as fighting continued.
20. Bishop (retired) Arthur Kulah, interview, July 7, 2006, Monrovia, Liberia.
21. Joseph Guannu, interview, 2006, Monrovia, Liberia.
22. Mulbah, interview, May 12, 2009.
23. Father Robert Tikpor, interview, May 12, 2009, Monrovia, Liberia.
24. Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis, interview, May 16, 2009, Monrovia, Liberia. He is well cared for, though apparently not receiving any sustained physical therapy to help him regain speech and more mobility. A fellow priest says Father Francis grows impatient with such programs after a while.
25. Kofi Woods, interview, June 13, 2006, Monrovia, Liberia.
26. Tikpor, interview, May 12, 2009.
27. Brownell interview, June 20, 2006.
28. Cooper interview, 2006.
29. The women, apparently with the help of US officials, got in touch with Ghanaian media. In a radio interview in Accra they explained their purpose and the fact that they were not being allowed into the talks. This use of shaming tactics worked: they were soon allowed in, but only as observers.
30. Brownell interview, 2006.
31. Brownell interview, 2006.
32. Cooper interview, 2006.
33. There is no way to measure the impact of the women’s informal lobbying and use of various pressure tactics on the peace process. But at a minimum, the women helped keep public (Liberian) pressure on the delegates, and their presence added to the media coverage of the talks.
34. Mulbah interview.
35. Ibid. It is impossible to determine if the training had any direct effect on the peace talks underway in Abuja, Nigeria, at the time. Those talks did result in an agreement a few weeks later, but it is not clear if any of those at the women’s training sessions were also at the talks. In a separate interview, Cooper noted that the rebel delegates to the peace process appeared not only cordial but jovial and were laughing with each other after the formal negotiating sessions.
36. Lindora Howard‐Diawara, interview, May 15, 2009, Monrovia, Liberia. A small group of women were still holding vigils in 2006.