Strategic Approaches to Reintegration: Lessons Learned from Liberia
![handle is hein.journals/glogo16 and id is 15 raw text is: Global Governance 16 (2010), 13-20
Strategic Approaches to Reintegration:
Lessons Learned from Liberia
Andrea Tamagnini and Teresa Krafft
SIX YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE LIBERIAN CONFLICT, EX-COMBATANTS
are no longer considered a serious threat to peace and stability in Liberia. Sys-
tematic surveys conducted by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
show that there is no national network of ex-combatants, although local groups
of ex-combatants still exist in some locations. From a security perspective, the
reintegration of ex-combatants has been largely successful in Liberia. This
good news is not a coincidence; it is due to six years of sustained effort to
reestablish rule of law throughout the country, to rebuild institutions, to pro-
mote early recovery, and to reintegrate the former fighting forces as well as
other war-affected populations. The government, with support from the United
Nations, many bilateral and multilateral partners, and national and interna-
tional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), has worked diligently to
achieve this.
This, however, does not mean that all problems related to reintegration are
completely resolved. First, there are some persistent localized networks of ex-
combatants. These networks often continue to exist for economic reasons as
ex-combatant groups engage in a variety of legal and illegal activities. The in-
volvement of these groups in illegal economic activities and other criminal be-
havior is a particular concern, which UNMIL is addressing jointly with the
government, UN agencies, and various international partners.
The second challenge is unemployment, or, more broadly, the lack of
livelihood opportunities for ex-combatants as well as for the general popula-
tion. Ex-combatants have received training, counseling, and career advice, but
livelihood opportunities are scarce in a postwar economy, with a very precar-
ious employment situation (85 percent do not earn enough to lift themselves
and their families over the one-dollar-a-day poverty line, according to a 2009
International Labour Organization [ILO] study'). Faced with a lack of liveli-
hood opportunities, ex-combatants and other high-risk youths sometimes re-
sort to illegal means of income generation, contributing to insecurity and
hampering their community reintegration.
When a 2008 US Institute for Peace study asked Liberian ex-combatants
if they would fight again, two-thirds responded with a categorical no. The
remaining one-third cited poverty and lack of economic opportunity as the
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Strategic Approaches to Reintegration: Lessons Learned from Liberia
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