SUMMARY
During the conflict for government power in Liberia the ULIMO (United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy) made use of one-sided violence against civilians. The group also committed widespread atrocities of other sorts, such as rape, the looting and burning of villages, and involvement in illicit commercial activities such as logging and smuggling. The reasons for ULIMO's violence against civilians most often brought forward by analysts can be best summarised into categories of ethnic and economic motivations.
In the sphere of one-sided violence with an ethnic motive the general explanation brought up by analysts is that the ULIMO's mainly Krahn and Mandingo cadres became embroiled in the ethnic nature of the Liberian civil conflict. The Krahn and Mandingo ethnic groups had been somewhat promoted during Liberian President Samuel Doe's regime, and when NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) began its rebellion against Doe it in many instances targeted civilians of Krahn and Mandingo ethnicity. At the outset of the NPFL rebellion prominent Mandingo politicians had called upon the Mandingos to support the Krahn-dominated government, further entrenching this belief of inter-ethnic rivalry. In retaliation ULIMO targeted Mandingos and Gios, but also other rival ethnic groups, such as the Kpelle and Loma.
This ethnic dimension can however not account for the entirety of the violence perpetrated against civilians (especially since all violence did not follow the ethnic divides), and a second powerful motivator commonly used as an explanation is the economic one. Looting was common all through the Liberian civil conflict, and served as a way to enrich not only individuals, but also the different factions involved in the fighting. In addition to the loot which could be gained from attacking villages and cities there were also substantial amounts of financial resources to be levied through controlling border areas (a necessity for smuggling) and mining and timber areas from which to extract natural resources. Thus, many of the factions of the Liberian civil conflict would use one-sided violence as a method of seizing and controlling such valuable territories.
Other motives for violence against civilians can be found on the individual level. Some analysts view violence against civilians in the Liberian civil conflict also as a way of settling personal grudges with perceived enemies or wrong-doers, or the simple pursuit of personal power, in an anarchical environment of opportunity. Looking at how the violence was actually carried out exposes a few general patterns, such as the indiscriminate use of small arms fire, hacking and stabbing weapons such as machetes and summary executions. Villages would commonly be surrounded and attacked, with indiscriminate killing, looting, and burning following. At many stages during the Liberian civil conflict warfare was characterized more by attacks on civilians, than by actual armed combat between contesting groups of soldiers. A common denominator for much of the violence by ULIMO directed towards civilians was that the targeted civilians were accused of collaborating with the rivaling NPFL. There are several registered events in which ULIMO would attack an entire village, kill indiscriminately, loot, and burn it down because of alleged support of NPFL within the village. These raids occurred on several occasions and did on one occasion take place in neighboring Sierra Leone.
ULIMO first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1993, when the one-sided violence resulted in more than 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in March that year when the group killed 14 suspected NPFL-supporters in Zorzor town.
