Land and Fragility of Peace in Postwar Liberia: Concessions and Conflicts in the Midst of Poverty

Abstract

On June 7, 2019, crowds of about 10, 000 people filled the streets of Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, to protest against alleged corruption, injustice, and other failures of the government (Agence France-Presse News, 2019). These protests struck fear among Liberians, who had seen about 2 decades of civil war during the 1990s and early 2000s that left hundreds of thousands of people dead, million others internally displaced or exiled into neighbouring countries, infrastructure destroyed, and the quality of life severely diminished. While Liberia has now experienced relative peace since 2006, the two civil wars (1989–1997 and 1999–2003) are a reminder of what unresolved conflicts can do to peace in a nation. A general perception by Liberians is that discontent about the struggling economy, and the unresolved tensions around land and natural resource issues, among other things, could trigger another violent conflict if something is not done to address the status quo. The discontent about land historically goes hand in hand with the general perception among Liberians that through landgrabbing, as part of concessions awarded by the state, foreign companies enjoy stronger and more secured rights to land than local people (Gilfoy, 2015). Countrywide protests and riots by rural people in defence of their land rights that are threatened by land concessions to foreign companies clearly put land among the top possible triggers of another violent conflict such as seen during the civil wars. In Grand Bassa County, violent clashes between local people and security forces over palm plantation land “brought back memories of the nightmarish lawlessness of the war” (Jerving, 2015, p. 1). Similarly, in Butaw District, riots and suppression by security forces occurred at the Golden Veroleum Liberia oil palm plantation, leading the youth of the area to threaten “consequences” if the land issue was not resolved (Stokes, 2015). These, and many other examples, make the resolution of the land issue a crucial governance priority for the state. Beevers (2015) and De Simone (2015) see land and natural resource governance as central to