How Civil War Altered Policing in Sierra Leone and Uganda

Abstract

Uganda and Sierra Leone both experienced civil wars that, inter alia, seriously disrupted policing. The wars left legacies that post-conflict reconstruction of policing arrangements has had to take into account. Based on fieldwork conducted during 2004 and 2005, this paper examines how conflict altered existing policing systems or produced alternatives. It considers the degree to which non-state policing agencies appeared in the security vacuum and asks how and why the two countries differ in their post-conflict policing. The paper begins with an outline of policing as it existed during the course of the civil wars. The next section examines the transformation of the old order of policing as a result of war, particularly its effect on state policing, customary policing and commercial policing. The final section looks at the creation of new orders of policing that war has produced, such as Uganda's local security committees and Sierra Leone's Peace Monitors and youth security.