Weak States and Security Threats in West Africa

Since the late 1980’s, repeated cases of breakdown of states’ institutions and the concomitant internal wars in West Africa have called the attention of observers to the abysmal level of insecurity in this sub-region. Images of wanton killings, of mutilations and displacement of thousands of people alerted the world to the orgy of violence in the wake of states’ incapacity to protect its institutions. Endemic insecurity in West Africa is not restricted to state institutions but pervades almost all aspects of citizens’ lives. Political instability with a high degree of violence has accompanied these states since the post-colonial period. A calculation showed in 1991 that 485 post-colonial African rulers were threatened with a 60 per cent chance of being killed, imprisoned or exiled as a consequence of holding office (Wiseman 1993: 657–660). Restricted to the West African region, this percentage may dramatically increase.1 Prior to the series of state collapse and the attendant internal wars, most West African states have experienced military coups, civil wars or violent secession attempts involving thousands of civilian casualties. In most West African states, internal political struggles are sometimes akin to wars. Thus, internal sources of insecurity by far exceed external sources. In general, peoples and states in West Africa are confronted with a constant state of fear.