Dissolving the Internal-External Divide: Sierra Leone’s Path In and Out of Peacekeeping

ABSTRACT

This article explores Sierra Leone’s trajectory from host of the world’s largest peace-support operation to post-conflict provider of peacekeepers elsewhere. Building on the authors’ previous research, it aims to nuance contemporary theoretical discussions of why states contribute peacekeepers, arguing that existing frameworks are unable to fully explain such developments in the Sierra Leonean case. A key reason is that these frameworks principally focus on national-level decision-making, overlooking the influence of foreign governments and external political pressures. Sierra Leone’s contribution of peacekeepers became integral to the post-conflict reconstruction of its armed forces, enabled and pushed forward by external partners, most prominently the UK. As such, internal and external factors intertwined to advance this trajectory, from national identity to income generation, international support and domestic crises. Sierra Leone’s trajectory grew from unique circumstances – with international partners playing an exceptionally central role in driving the process forward. These factors make Sierra Leone an important case to interrogate, against the backdrop of existing theoretical frameworks that seek to explain why states contribute troops.

KEYWORDS:

• Sierra Leone
• post-conflict
• military reconstruction
• global South
• peacekeeping

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Martin-Brûlé, Evaluating Peacekeeping Missions.

2. McGregor, ‘Evaluating Sierra Leone’s Military Mission in Somalia’; Curran and Williams, ‘The United Kingdom and UN Peacekeeping’, 77.

3. Bellamy and Williams, Providing Peacekeepers.

4. Albrecht and Jackson, Securing Sierra Leone.

5. Stojek and Tir, ‘The Supply Side of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations’; Williams, ‘Joining AMISOM’.

6. Krishnasamy and Weigold, ‘The Paradox of Indiaapos;s Peacekeeping’; Beswick, ‘Managing Dissent in a Post-Genocide Environment’; Prouza and Horák, ‘Small but Substantial’.

7. Cunliffe, Legions of Peace, 18.

8. Hutchful, ‘Military Policy and Reform in Ghana’, 258.

9. Albrecht, Cold-Ravnkilde and Haugegaard, ‘African Peacekeepers in Mali’.

10. Albrecht and Cold-Ravnkilde, ‘National Interests as Friction’; Albrecht and Haenlein, ‘Fragmented Peacekeeping’; Aning and Aubyn, ‘Ghana’; Brosig, ‘Rentier Peacekeeping in Neo-Patrimonial Systems’; Prouza and Hórak, ‘Small but Substantial’, 217; Weiss and Kuele, ‘The Global South and UN Peace Operations’.

11. Wilén, ‘Examining the Links between Security Sector’. Wilén, Ambrosetti and Birantamije, ‘Sending Peacekeepers Abroad, Sharing Power at Home’.

12. Albrecht and Jackson, Security sector reform in Sierra Leone 1997–2007.

13. Cunliffe, Legions of Peace; Williams, Keeping the Peace in Africa, 310.

14. Beswick, ‘Peacekeeping, Regime Security and “African Solutions to African Problems”’, 740.

15. Benson and Kathman, ‘UN Bias and Force Commitments in Civil War’.

16. Gbla, ‘Security Sector Reform under International Tutelage in Sierra Leone’.

17. It should be noted that the article focuses on the military, without considering decision-making around contributing police officers to PSOs.

18. Albrecht, ‘Hybridization, Intervention and Authority’; Albrecht and Haenlein, ‘Sierra Leone’s Post-Conflict Peacekeepers’; Albrecht and Jackson, Security System Transformation in Sierra Leone; Godwin and Haenlein, ‘Security-Sector Reform in Sierra Leone’.

19. Neack, ‘UN Peace-Keeping’.

20. Neack, ‘UN Peace-Keeping,’ 188.

21. Monnakgotla, ‘The Naked Face of UN Peacekeeping’.

22. Neack, ‘UN Peace-Keeping’, 168.

23. Andersson, ‘United Nations Intervention by United Democracies?’; Keohane and Martin, ‘The Promise of Institutionalist Theory’; Paris, At War’s End.

24. Re-emerging in the 1980s, the liberal peace thesis suggests that democracies do not go to war with one another. Its proponents at the time included Michael Doyle (1986) and Rudolph J Rummel (1997), who drew on the suggestion of Immanuel Kant that representative governments are more likely to behave peacefully than authoritarian regimes.

25. Abrahamsen, Andersen, and Sending, ‘Introduction’; Cooley, ‘Authoritarianism Goes Global’.

26. For Ghana as an example, see Prouza and Hórak, ‘Small but Substantial’.

27. Khanna, Sandler and Shimizu, ‘Sharing the Financial Burden’; Urlacher, ‘Answering the Call’.

28. Shimizu and Sandler, ‘Peacekeeping and Burden-Sharing’.

29. Khanna, Sandler and Shimizu, ‘Sharing the Financial Burden’.

30. Smith and Stam, ‘Mediation and Peacekeeping’.

31. Cunliffe, Legions of Peace.

32. Albrecht and Haenlein, ‘Sierra Leone’s Post-Conflict Peacekeepers.

33. Bellamy and Williams, Providing Peacekeepers, 5.

34. Albrecht and Jackson, Securing Sierra Leone, 15.

35. Albrecht and Jackson, Security System Transformation; Albrecht and Jackson, Securing Sierra Leone.

36. Cunliffe, Legions of Peace; Albrecht, Cold-Ravnkilde and Haugegaard, ‘African Peacekeepers in Mali’; Albrecht and Cold-Ravnkilde, ‘National Interests as Friction’, 213.

37. Ignatieff, Empire Lite.

38. Authors’ interview, Adele McGookin, October 2013, Skype.

39. Authors’ interview, Brima Sesay, December 2013, Freetown.

40. Authors’ interview, Brima Sesay, December 2013, Freetown.

41. For a more detailed discussion of how the Defence White Paper was produced, see Kondeh, ‘Formulating Sierra Leone’s Defence White Paper’; Albrecht and Jackson 2014, Securing Sierra Leone, 31–32.

42. Bach, ‘Patrimonialism and Neopatrimonialism’.

43. Nelson-Williams, ‘Restructuring the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces’, 120–121.

44. Bach, ‘Patrimonialism and Neopatrimonialism’, 276.

45. Nelson-Williams, ‘Restructuring the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces’, 120.

46. Albrecht and Jackson, Security System Transformation, 156.

47. Jackson and Albrecht, Reconstructing Security after Conflict; Keen, Conflict and Collusion in Sierra Leone.

48. Authors’ interview, Peter Penfold, March 2008, Freetown.

49. Authors’ interview, Kellie Conteh, May 2008, Freetown.

50. Albrecht and Jackson, Securing Sierra Leone.

51. Aning and Aubyn, ‘Ghana’.

52. Brosig, ‘Rentier Peacekeeping in Neo-Patrimonial Systems’.

53. Ucko, ‘Can Limited Intervention Work?’, 865.

54. Garth Glentworth, interview, UK, February 2008.

55. Albrecht and Malan, ‘Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and National Ownership’, 127.

56. Albrecht and Jackson, Securing Sierra Leone, 21.

57. Ibid.

58. Authors’ interview, Simeon Nashiru Sheriff, Freetown, June 2012.

59. Albrecht and Jackson, Security System Transformation in Sierra Leone, 100.

60. See Jowell, ‘The unintended consequences of foreign military assistance in Africa’.

61. For further elaboration, see Albrecht and Jackson, Securing Sierra Leone, 26–28.

62. Albrecht and Jackson, Securing Sierra Leone, 79; Firsing, ‘Thinking Through the Role of Africa’s Militaries in Peacekeeping’.

63. Brima Sesay, workshop, Freetown, February 2014.

64. Ibid.

65. Authors’ interview, Jonathan Powe, Skype, September 2013.

66. Le Grys, IMATT Commander in 2005–2006, quoted in Albrecht and Jackson, Security System Transformation, 153. For Ghana, see Hutchful, ‘Military Policy and Reform in Ghana’.

67. Duffield, Global Governance and the New Wars.

68. Abrahamsen, ‘Blair’s Africa’.

69. US, ‘The National Security Strategy of the United States of America’.

70. Blair, ‘Doctrine of the International Community’.

71. Ibid.

72. Andersen and Engedal, ‘Blue Helmets and Grey Zones’, 62.

73. Pape, ‘When Duty Calls’; Walton, ‘The Case for Strategic Traditionalism’.

74. Fernando, Light Footprints.

75. Cold-Ravnkilde, Albrecht and Haugegaard, ‘Friction and Inequality’.

76. Authors’ email correspondence with Lieutenant Colonel Joe Edkins, Director of Horton Academy, IMATT/ISAT, and Training Adviser, ISAT, 4 August 2013.

77. IMATT, ‘Plan 2010’.

78. IMATT, ‘Plan 2010’.

79. IMATT, ‘Future Delivery of RSLAF Transformation by IMATT’.

80. Lanz, The Responsibility to Protect in Darfur.

81. The Economist, ‘Sierra Leone’s Army’; Olonisakin, Peacekeeping in Sierra Leone.

82. Authors’ email correspondence, Hugh Blackman, 2014.

83. Authors’ email correspondence, Julian Bower, 2014.

84. Albrecht and Haenlein, Sierra Leone’s Post-Conflict Peacekeepers.

85. Authors’ email correspondence, Hugh Blackman, 2014.

86. Authors’ email correspondence with an international military adviser during Sierra Leone’s deployment in Darfur, January 2015.

87. Astill-Brown, Davidson-Houston and Morgan, ‘Stability and Prosperity in Sierra Leone’.

88. Authors’ interview, Richard Woodward, military advisor to the MOD (2010–2013), London, August 2013.

89. Authors’ email correspondence, international military adviser during Sierra Leone’s deployment in Darfur, January 2015.

90. Authors’ interview, anonymous, London, August 2013.

91. Authors’ meeting with a group of British advisers to Sierra Leone, September 2013.

92. Authors’ interview, Paolo Conteh, September 2013.

93. Brima Sesay, workshop, Freetown, February 2014.

94. Interview, Jamie Martin, London, September 2013.

95. Ibid.

96. Godwin and Haenlein, ‘Security-Sector Reform in Sierra Leone’, 33.

97. Williams, ‘Joining AMISOM’; Albrecht and Cold–Ravnkilde, ‘National Interests as Friction’.

98. ISAT, ‘Reconnaissance to Somalia 13-22 October 2013ʹ.

99. Albrecht and Cold–Ravnkilde, ‘National Interests as Friction’.

100. ISAT, ‘Reconnaissance to Somalia 13-22 October 2013ʹ.

101. Authors’ interview with Paolo Conteh, Freetown, December 2013.

102. Authors’ interview, anonymous, December 2014.

103. Authors’ interview, anonymous, December 2014.

104. Godwin and Haenlein, ‘Learning From Ebola in Sierra Leone’.

105. Ibid.

106. Authors’ email correspondence with Roger Fawcus.

107. Authors’ email correspondence with Jamie Martin.

108. White and Albrecht, Sierra Leone.

109. White and Albrecht, Sierra Leone.

110. Brima Sesay, workshop, Freetown, February 2014.

111. Authors’ email correspondence with Brian Jones.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Albrecht

Peter Albrecht is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. His work centres on the role of non-state actors and state agencies in enforcing security and order across Africa, primarily in Sierra Leone, Kenya, Somalia, and Ghana. He is the author of Hybridization, Intervention and Authority: Security Beyond Conflict in Sierra Leone (2020), and has co-authored several other books, including Securing Sierra Leone, 1997–2013: Defence, Diplomacy and Development in Action (2014).

Cathy Haenlein

Cathy Haenlein is the Director of the Organised Crime and Policing research group and a Senior Research Fellow at RUSI, with expertise in serious and organised crime, illicit trade, peacekeeping, conflict and development. Her research focuses on transnational organised crime, the intersections between environmental crime and broader security issues, peacekeeping and post-conflict peacebuilding in sub-Saharan Africa.