BPM Discussion Forum: Summary- (part 2)- Para States, Quasi states, and black spots: Perhaps not States but not ‘Ungoverned Territories’ Either

Case Study 1- Dark Corners: The Western African Joint Criminal Enterprise
By David M. Crane
Throughout history certain parts of the world have been left to wallow in neglect, where endemic bad governance, corruption and unrest, becoming flash points for conflict. Kosovo, Rwanda, Cambodia, Burundi, sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire are some recent modern day examples of this phenomenon. Illicit activities are carried out in these vacuums under the fabric of international order.
This article discusses one such example, that of the West African endemic criminal enterprise. The 20 years of turmoil has affected the suffering and displacement of over 5 million West Africans.
A Bloody Century:
Estimates reveal that over 200 million people died in the 20th century as a result of domestic as well as international conflicts. The author professes that atrocities carried out under Mao, Stalin, Leopold ц of Belgium, Hitler, Turkish Pashas, Pol Pot of Cambodia, Charles Taylor of Liberia and Sadam Hussain account for around another 12 million fatalities. Cloaked behind the concept of state sovereignty these violations continued without check.
Post the Second World War the world chartered Rights recognizing the essential right of existence thus affecting a fundamental paradigm shift. The Nuremburg Principles, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Convention and the Genocide convention established in theory a new world order.
The ‘First Cold War’, preceded by the emancipation of the Southern Hemisphere from their Colonial masters, gave way to a scramble for these nascent states on an ideological agenda. These new states took advantage of the polarized world and combinations of artificially propelled traditional societies incubated endemic unrest. At the end of this ideological war these cast aside, barely functioning states with sham political traditions became the ‘dark corners’ of the world.
Dark Corners- The New Battlefields:
In this arena the second major ideological battle has been bred, essentially an ideological struggle that in the writer’s opinion has now laid the ground for a Second Cold War, involving the West vs. the Islamofascists. He ponders whether the rules of civilization created 6 decades ago by the international community hold enough strength to deal with this evolved threat.
A Case Study- The West African Joint Criminal Enterprise:
In the 80s Libya’s Khadafy, a self proclaimed ‘Emperor of Africa’, sought to control a string of states on the resource rich West African coast, classic examples of ‘Dark Corners’. His attempts were directed through a consortium of war lords, politicians, criminal cartels and terror cells that came to be known as the West African Joint Criminal Enterprise. Crane alleges that following the cold war West Africa fell into a planned state of chaos supported by Kadafy (Libya), Blasé Campare (Burkina Faso) and Chales taylor (Liberia). The latter two were graduates from Kadafy’s terror training camps from the late 80s, along with some other major players in the criminal enterprise. They waged a 10 year long campaign that witnessed the destruction of 2 nations along with suffering and displacement of millions.
In the wake of such turmoil other shady entities like Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda used the West African base to support their covert operations ranging from illicit diamond trade to fund conflict to seeking refuge in the shadows of the world. A direct consequence of these activities was the decade long civil strife in Sierra Leone where ultimately UN peacekeeping forces were called in and a special court was set up, ultimately bringing an end to the war on January 22, 2002. Efforts by the international community thus checked the nefarious intents of tyrants in this part of the world.
Lessons Learned:
Among the lessons learned, firstly Dark Corners form when insecure parts of the world with potential for conflict are ignored by the international community. Secondly unnatural post colonial solutions set the stage for such crises. Thirdly sustainable peace is only possible through a mechanism of justice and reconciliation.
Engagement and long term efforts by the international community may thus be the only viable solution to deal with dark corners, as was done in the West African case.
Conclusions and Reflections:
In the modern day world the concept of sovereignty and the role of nation state faces a challenge. In an increasingly globalised set up propelled by the information age, the widening gap between the developed and the developing world is troublesome. Weakened state and social structures hold the potential to metamorphose into endemic threats to international peace. Force however should not be employed as a quick fix, but as a last resort. Engaging these vulnerable spots of the world and creating the opportunity for social, political and economic development is perhaps the only viable long term solution.

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