Counterinsurgency in West Africa: Non Lethal Activities

Abstract

Among the most challenging issues for West Africa is security. This region has experienced and is still experiencing many insurgencies. Coups d'etats are very frequent. Mauritania and Guinea are ruled now by military juntas. Nigeria is experiencing a series of bloody religious conflicts. Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire are trying to find stability with the assistance of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces. Senegal, Mali and Niger are struggling with insurgents. The political, military, economic, social and physical environments are highly conducive for the creation of insurgencies. Most of West African countries are emerging democracies. The political climate is known to be neopatrimonial, "a type of political domination which is characterized by insecurity about the behavior and role of state institutions." Most of the presidents have come to power by coups d'etats or contested elections. The 16 countries of West Africa are among the poorest in the world. These economic conditions are favorable for the recruitment of people to join an insurgency. Each country has many ethnic groups, and insurgents can easily find support across borders. To solve their security dilemma, most West African countries have been using a very heavy-handed approach which has not been successful. This thesis presents case studies of the insurgencies in the Casamance region of Senegal, Liberia, and Cote d'Ivoire to demonstrate how the kinetic and overly lethal approach to insurgency has worsened the situation in these countries. The thesis will identify nonlethal means that could be used to help solve these conflicts, or at least reduce them to a lower level of violence so that long-term political settlements might be possible. The thesis proposes the use of the elements of national power, or DIME (diplomatic, informational, military, and economic), in conjunction with, and only if necessary, lethal means, to decisively defeat an insurgency.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA501660

Entities

People

  • Yakhya Diop

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Counterinsurgency
  • Delphi Method
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Governments
  • Insurgency
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Relations
  • National Governments
  • Negotiations
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • Security
  • Terrorists
  • United Nations
  • Warfare
  • West Africa

Fields of Study

  • Sociology

Readers

  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.