Warlords in Africa's 'New Wars Jonas Savimbi and Charles Taylor compared

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to describe the factors that led to the creation ofwarlords in Angola and Sierra Leone so as to better understand the dynamics andorigins of warlord politics. The two warlords that were focused on, and compared,were Jonas Savimbi (Angola) and Charles Taylor (Liberia and Sierra Leone).Authors like Mary Kaldor (2006), William Reno (1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006,2007) and Collier and Hoeffler (2004) contributed toward the base of this study.Their work captured the issues contributing toward the warlord phenomenon andgenerated thought surrounding the context in which these warlords arose. JohnMackinlay (2000) was used to describe and analyse the origins of warlordism andhow the warlord phenomenon has changed with the onset of new wars, especially inthe late 20th and 21st centuries (Kaldor, 2006). Furthermore, the work of Thomas H.Greene (1984) was used in guiding this thesis into a systematic study, focusingmainly on the leadership, following, organization, techniques and external support ofboth Jonas Savimbi and Charles Taylor as examples of contemporary warlords.Through utilizing the contributions of the above authors on this topic, the similaritiesand differences between the two warlords were explored. The study found thatwhile Jonas Savimbi and Charles Taylor emerged from different eras and contexts(Savimbi out of the Cold War and Taylor as a result of globalization), they bothbecame typical warlords. Savimbi only became a warlord after 1992. Before, Savimbiused Maoist ideology while an insurgent against Portugal, whereafter he became arebel in the Angolan civil war. Taylor was a warlord in diamond-rich neighbouringSierra Leone. Both used identity politics to gather a following while Taylor used bruteforce and the manipulation of the youth. They both manipulated illicit criminalnetworking and operated internationally, smuggling diamonds. The main difference,however, is that Taylor was an insurgent in Liberia where he seized power in 1990and became president in 1997, while a warlord in neighbouring Sierra Leone.Savimbi, on the other hand, never attained presidential power even though heparticipated in the 1992 Angolan elections which he lost, whereafter he ceased to bea revolutionary, and became a real warlord without the external support he previously had. Savimbi was assassinated in 2002 and Taylor abdicated in 2003,currently standing trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Hestands trial for the human right atrocities committed in Sierra Leone. Their legacieslive on.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University