An Ex Nigerian Soldier, Chief Desmond Odoh on 4th February, 2024 launched a book detailing his experiences during the operation of Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group, ECOMOG in Liberia.
In the book titled “ECOMOG in Liberia: Policies, Politics and Strategies” Chief Odoh penned down his observations during the operations and the areas he felt should have been done differently,
The Ex Soldier who was with the Army from 1994 to 2004, noted that the book was born out of his desire to tell his friends about his experience in Liberia but along the line, he started questioning some policies, politics being played and strategies adopted by ECOMOG in the pursuit of that peace, hence the need to reach a wider audience.
“And at the end that I made up my mind to publish my experiences as a book and it is so unique because I did not tell how many people that I killed or how many kilometres I trekked or days that I starved. I concentrated on those issues I was questioning,” he said.
“The unique thing about the book is that it looked at the policies that characterised the operations of ECOMOG, I question things like ‘collective presidency’ because in the end, it’s like the celebration of belligerent where the warlords were given bigger posts based on how large their area of control is and the result is that any smaller waring faction who didn’t get much goes back to fight more to gain more areas of control and the fighting leading to more deaths continue.”
In general, Odoh described the ECOMOG operation as a huge success and canvassed for its institutionalisation- each member country having a standby army that can be mobilized withing 24 hours “because anyone that worked in Liberia will agree with me that ECOMOG was the best thing Africa could give to world peace.”
The book reviewer, a former Vice-Chancellor of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Prof. Cyprian Onyeji, said 188-paged work with 10 chapters is a masterpiece, thanks to the “eloquence of the author and the clarity of his presentation coupled with the enormous amount of information that enables a reader to fully appreciate the policies, politics and strategies associated with the ECOMOG intervention in Liberia.”
Prof. Onyeji added that the book looked at the lessons derivable from the ECOMOG initiative while aiming to highlight some of the operational/diplomatic lapses that should be addressed for a more efficient operation if the intervention were to be redeployed in other instances.
Looking at the books critically, chapter by chapter, the book reviewer pointed out that;
In chapter one, the author took a bird’s eye view of the regime of President Samuel Doe who took over reigns of governance in a military coup on April 12, 1980 and became the first native Liberian to rule the country since the country’s independence in 1847.
In Chapter two, the author gave an account of the Liberian rebel. He asserted that the Liberian civil war commenced based on this perpetual quest by man to overthrow leaders perceived as dictators and tyrants.
Chapter three talked about the activities of the early days of peace deals between the rebel and government forces starting with the vociferous condemnation of hostilities by various groups in Liberia, as lives had been lost in thousands sequel to the deterioration of security of the state. All these culminated in the conception and birth of ECOMOG, and their subsequent arrival to Liberia. At the time when ECOMOG came, the city of Monrovia was divided among three warring parties namely; the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (I-NPFL), and the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL).
In chapter four, reader of the book will get information on circumstances leading to capture and barbaric killing of the then President of Liberia, Master Sergeant Samuel Doe on 9th September, 1990.
Chapter five is an account of continuation of the activities of ECOMOG at maintaining peace in the war-torn country. The author noted that not all the warring factions were cooperating and ECOMOG faced several daunting challenges. On 15th October 1992, the NPFL and Prince Johnson’s group (I-NPFL) launched a major operation code-named “Operation Octopus” on Monrovia with the sole aim of sending ECOMOG troops packing out of the Liberian soil.
Chapter six described the processes and activities that led to the eventual installation of a democratically elected government in Liberia in 1997. A six-man council of State was constituted and the executive powers of the government of Republic of Liberia was vested in this Six-member Council of State.
Chapter seven describes the processes of Disarmament and Demobilization of Combatants followed by what was termed “CORDON AND SEARCH OPERATIONS” in which ECOMOG ensured that they rid Liberia of all forms of illegally possessed arms and weapons.
Chapter eight continued with the narration of the unfolding events including the revised timetable from the Abuja Agreement and arrangement for general elections for inauguration of a new democratically elected government which led to the formation of the Independent Elections Commission (IECOM) was inaugurated and this established the ground rules, registered political parties and supervised the conduct of the elections. The election was won by Mr. Charles Taylor.
In chapter nine, the book talked about the activities that followed the declaration of Mr Taylor the winner of the July 19, 1997 presidential election. He was sworn in as the 22nd President of Liberia on 2nd August, 1997. After some years in office, following accusations of nepotism and lopsidedness in making appointments, pressure mounted on President Taylor to resign.
In the last chapter (10), the author gave a summary or an appraisal of ECOMOG operations in Liberia as well as successes recorded by ECOMOG. The author also detailed the constraints and failures of ECOMOG. Based on the identified pitfalls and constraints in the operations of ECOMOG, the author ended this chapter with well-thought-out recommendations.
In conclusion, Prof. Onyeji said “the book is highly recommended to, not just students of history or public analysts, but to every person that appreciates a good literary work and is interested in general knowledge.
“The book is also recommended to government officials and policy makers because it is a veritable source of reference for ideas on modalities for countering crisis and challenges similar to the ECOMOG situation in Liberia.”
Earlier, in his address, the Chairman of the book launch, Sir Cajetan Agu, described the work as a tribute to the soldiers that gave their service to the stability of Africa as well as the author’s personal understanding of the policies, politics and strategies that played out in Liberia.
Sir Agu also noted that the book looked at the activities that led to disarming of the various rebel groups in the country.
“Let us remember the great lessons learnt in Liberia and as a soldier in Liberia, the author was able to define the policies, politics and strategies in bringing lasting peace to Liberia by giving insight into the remote and immediate cause of the war.
“The disarming of different rebel groups led to the democratic elected Government in Liberia. We are glad that our son, Desmond Odoh, was part of this project that return peace in Liberia,” he said.
While commending the author, Agu said the book was an outcome of hard work and dedication, adding that it’s recommended to the wide knowledge of the general public specifically, the military training institutions especially now Nigeria is experiencing series of violence in different parts of the country.
