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Armed groups, IHL and the invisible world: How spiritual beliefs shape warfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2021

Ana Dols García
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Abstract

“Secret societies”, “traditional hunters”, “charms” and “mystical weapons” are recurrent terms when analyzing some of the present armed conflicts in the Sub-Saharan region. However, though spiritual beliefs shape armed groups’ behaviour, and such beliefs are integrated into the modus operandi of some armed groups, the role of these beliefs in warfare is largely overlooked. Far from being something anecdotal or incidental, the invisible world plays a role in shaping armed groups’ behaviour and framing warfare dynamics. Spiritual beliefs might influence the respect afforded to international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Such beliefs may also serve various strategic functions, including for legitimation of the group, mobilization of support, control, cohesion, discipline, motivation and protection. Digging further into the matter and understanding how such beliefs impact the internal dynamics of armed groups and their external relations, including with the State, other armed groups and communities, is an essential part of understanding armed conflicts and their aftermath.

Keywords

spiritual beliefsinternational humanitarian lawarmed groupsAfricawitchcraft
Type
Selected articles
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 102 , Issue 915: Non-State armed groups , December 2020 , pp. 1179 - 1199
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC

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References

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15 And during the armed group's life. For example, during the Ongwen trial, an expert witness stated that spirituality was much more prominent within the LRA between 1986 and before Operation Iron Fist in 2002: International Criminal Court (ICC), Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, Case No. ICC-02/04-01/15, Public Redacted Version of “Corrected Version of ‘Defence Closing Brief’, filed on 24 February 2020”, 13 March 2020, para. 712.

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19 Stephen Ellis, This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organised Crime, Hurst, London, 2016, p. 212.

20 Ibid., p. 177.

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23 Cahn, Naomi R., “Poor Children: Child Witches and Child Soldiers in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2006Google Scholar; Gary Foxcroft, Witchcraft Accusations: A Protection Concern for UNHCR and the Wider Humanitarian Community?, paper presented to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), April 2009, p. 7; All-Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children, “Child Witches”, Child Soldiers, Child Poverty and Violence: Street Children in Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, November 2006.

24 G. Foxcroft, above note 23, p. 7.

25 Mentioned in A. Cimpric, above note 10, p. 24.

26 Filip De Boeck, “Être un danger, être en danger: Exclusion et solidarité dans un monde d'insécurité spirituelle”, in B. Martinelli and J. Boujou (eds), above note 2, p. 96; Javier Aguilar Molina, The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Save the Children, London, 2005, p. 19.

27 Understanding witchcraft as “the ability to harm someone though the use of mystical power”: A. Cimpric, above note 10, p. 1.

28 Philip Alston, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions: Follow-up to the Report on the Mission to the Central African Republic, UN Doc. A/HRC/14/24/Add.5, 19 May 2010, para. 18.

29 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights), Report of a Mission of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Accounts of Congolese Fleeing the Crisis in the Kasaï Region, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, August 2017.

30 ICC, Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, Situation in Uganda in the Case of the Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, Case No. ICC-02/04-01/15, Prosecution's Pre-Trial Brief (Trial Chamber IX), 6 September 2016, para. 586.

31 Ibid., para. 621.

32 Stephen C. Lubkemann and Thomas J. Watson, “Where to Be an Ancestor? Reconstituting Socio-spiritual Worlds among Displaced Mozambicans”, in Beatrice Nicolini (ed.), Studies in Witchcraft, Magic, War and Peace in Africa: Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Edwin Mellen Press, Wales, 2006.

33 Jill Schnoebelen, Witchcraft Allegations, Refugee Protection and Human Rights: A Review of the Evidence, UNHCR New Issues in Refugee Research, Research Paper No. 169, 2009.

34 Bryn Boyce, “Witchcraft Allegations Plague Southern Chad's Camps”, UNHCR, 25 October 2007, available at: www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2007/10/472094884/witchcraft-allegations-plague-southern-chads-camps.html.

35 Jeff Crisp, “Witchcraft and Displacement”, Forced Migration Review Online, October 2018.

36 J. Schnoebelen, above note 33, p. 27.

37 Ibid, p. 22.

38 Maxwell Owusu, “Nanny's Apron Strings: Magic, ‘Medicine’, Witchcraft and Warfare in Colonial and Post-Colonial West Africa”, in B. Nicolini (ed.), above note 32, p. 138.

39 Meshack Owino, “Vifo Na Mazishi: The Impact of War on Kenya African Soldiers’ Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Death and Burials in Colonial Kenya”, in B. Nicolini (ed.), above note 32.

40 Institute for Security Studies, Militias, Rebels and Islamist Militants, Pretoria, 2010, p. 78.

41 A. Cimpric, above note 10, p. 9.

42 N. Wlodarczyk, Magic and Warfare, above note 3, p. 133.

43 Ibid., pp. 28 ff.

44 Following the categorization of armed groups described in ICRC, The Roots of Restraint in War, above note 8.

45 See the section below entitled “Intimidation: The Invisible World as a Weapon/Strategy against the Enemy”.

46 Anonymous interview with NGO worker, DRC, December 2019 (on file with author).

47 ICC, Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, No. ICC-02/04-01/15, Public Redacted Trial Judgment, 4 February 2021, paras 2645 ff.

48 Ibid.

49 ICC, Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, Case No. ICC-02/04-01/15-T-197-ENG, Trial Hearing, Witness UGA-D26-P-0060, Professeur Kristof Titeca, 2018, pp. 21 ff.

50 ICC, Ongwen, above note 15, para. 8.

51 Adina-Loredana Nistor, Andrew Merrylees and Barbora Holá, “Spellbound at the International Criminal Court: The Intersection of Spirituality and International Criminal Law”, draft chapter, August 2020, p. 4.

52 ICC, Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga, Case No.ICC-01/04-01/07, Judgment Pursuant to Article 74 of the Statute, 7 March 2014, para. 67.

53 Tim Kelsall, Culture under Cross-Examination: International Justice and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Cambridge Studies in Law and Society, November 2009, p. 3.

54 ICC, “Dominic Ongwen Sentenced to 25 Years of Imprisonment”, press release, 6 May 2021, available at: www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1590. On 6 May 2021, the ICC sentenced Dominic Ongwen to twenty-five years’ imprisonment, as he was found guilty of committing sixty-one offences comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes.

55 Kristof Titeca, “Spirits on Trial? The Case of Dominic Ongwen in the International Criminal Court”, Africa at LSE, February 2019, available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2019/02/19/spirits-on-trial-the-case-of-dominic-ongwen-in-the-international-criminal-court/.

56 A.-L. Nistor, A. Merrylees and B. Holá, above note 50, p. 12.

57 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 7.

58 UNOCI, above note 1; Rodrigue Fahiramane Koné, La Confrérie des Chasseurs Traditionnels Dozo en Côte d'Ivoire: Enjeux socioculturels et dynamiques sécuritaires, June 2018, p. 21.

59 Dougoukolo Alpha Oumar Ba-Konaré, “Entre faux djihadistes et faux chasseurs traditionnels, les civils piégés dans le centre du Mali”, The Conversation, 22 October 2018, available at: https://theconversation.com/entre-faux-djihadistes-et-faux-chasseurs-traditionnels-les-civils-pieges-dans-le-centre-du-mali-105181

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64 See, for example, V. Brereton, above note 61, pp. 30–31.

65 ICC, Katanga, above note 52, para. 1258.

66 Naomi Pendle, “Community-Embedded Armed Groups”, in ICRC, The Roots of Restraint in War, above note 8, p. 58; UNOCI, above note 1, paras 20 ff.

67 Obafemi Jegede, Shrines, Oath-taking and Jurisprudence in Yoruba and Igbo Religions, Lap Lambert, Saarbrücken, 2011, p. 124.

68 Human Rights Council, Rapport détaillé de l'Equipe d'experts internationaux sur la situation au Kasaï, UN Doc. A/HRC/38/CRP.1, 29 June 2018, para. 68.

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70 UNOCI, above note 1, p. 10. According to Ba-Konaré, only men can be initiated into Dozo confraternities: D. A. O. Ba-Konaré, above note 59.

71 Human Rights Council, above note 68.

72 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 101.

73 The necessity of responding to the needs of the moment has been mentioned as a factor in easing the requirements and procedures to become initiated into armed groups: UNOCI, above note 1, para. 12.

74 Michie Mwanzia, The Power of the Oath: Mau Mau Nationalism in Kenya, 1952–1960, University of Rochester Press, New York, 2016, pp. 103, 105.

75 Harvey Whitehouse and Brian McQuinn, “Ritual and Violence: Divergent modes of religiosity and armed struggle”, in Mark Juergensmeyer, Margo Kitts and Michael Kessler Jerryson (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013, p. 4.

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77 J. T. D. Kelly, L. Branham and M. R. Decker, above note 12, p. 8.

78 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 35.

79 Ibid., p. 35.

80 See, for example, Human Rights Watch, War Crimes Allegedly Committed by the Mai Mai in Katanga, 2006, p. 15; ICC, Ongwen, above note 15, para. 28.

81 ICC, Ongwen, above note 15, para. 701.

82 “Uganda's Spiritual War Heats Up”, BBC News, 22 July 2003, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3086465.stm.

83 Nathalie Arnold, “With ‘Ripe’ Eyes You Will See: Occult Conflicts in Pemba's Days of Caning, Zanzibar 1964–1968”, in B. Nicolini (ed.), above note 32, p. 218; N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 115.

84 E. Chitukutuku, above note 16, p. 328.

85 ICC, Ongwen, above note 49, p. 68.

86 Gris-gris are charms that are believed to protect fighters.

87 See the section below entitled “The Invisible World and Its Influence on Armed Actors’ Behaviour”.

88 Nathan Nunn and Raul Sánchez de la Sierra, Why Being Wrong Can Be Right: Magical Warfare Technologies and the Persistence of False Beliefs, NBER Working Paper No. 23207, Cambridge, 2017, p. 7.

89 Ibid., p. 8.

90 Ibid., p. 4.

91 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 129.

92 Ibid., p. 78.

93 UN Human Rights, above note 29, para. 54.

94 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 128.

95 “Boko Haram” is not a label used by the group itself but is commonly used in media reporting to refer to the armed group People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad, or less often, to the Islamic State West Africa Province. For more information, see International Crisis Group, Facing the Challenge of the Islamic State in West Africa Province, Report No. 273, Belgium, 16 May 2019, available at: www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/273-facing-challenge-islamic-state-west-africa-province.

96 Ndahi Marama, “Mysterious Snakes, Bees Attack Boko Haram in Sambisa Forest”, Vanguard, 26 June 2014, available at: www.vanguardngr.com/2014/06/mysterious-snakes-bees-attack-boko-haram-sambisa-forest/.

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98 Anonymous interview, above note 46.

99 Human Rights Council, above note 68, para. 49.

100 Ibid., para. 105.

101 Ibid., paras 51, 360.

102 Ibid., para. 360.

103 Armand Ougock, “Cameroun: Terrorisme, Biya appelle les populations à utiliser la sorcellerie pour vaincre Boko Haram”, Cameroonvoice, 3 February 2016, available at: www.cameroonvoice.com/news/article-news-22275.html.

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107 Ibid., p. 367.

108 Amnesty International, Attention: Enfants-soldats. Dossier pedagogique, 2012, p. 19.

109 Child Soldiers International, Des milliers de vies á reparer: Les défis de la démobilisation et réintegration des enfants associés aux groupes armés en RCA, 2016, p. 26.

110 S. Whitman et al., above note 9, p. 39.

111 Ibid., pp. 81–82.

112 Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, above note 69, para. 343.

113 Human Rights Council, above note 68, para. 63.

114 UNOCI, above note 1, para. 29.

115 ICC, Ongwen, above note 15.

116 Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, above note 69, para. 346.

117 Stephen Ellis, “Mystical Weapons: Some Evidence from the Liberian War”, Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2001, p. 222.

118 Human Rights Council, Situation in Kasaï: Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/38/31, 2018, para. 31. See also Human Rights Watch, above note 80, p. 9.

119 Laurenti Magesa, African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life, Paulines Publications Africa, Nairobi, 1998, p. 150; S. Ellis, above note 117, p. 222.

120 Note that the concept of the “child” in this context is linked with cultural notions of “childhood” and not with its legal definition.

121 See Human Rights Watch, “We Used to Be Brothers”: Self-Defense Group Abuses in Central Mali, 2018, pp. 56–57; UNOCI, above note 1, para. 74; N. Nunn and R. Sánchez de la Sierra, above note 88, p. 10; ICC, Katanga, above note 52, para. 1253.

122 N. Pendle, above note 16, p. 20.

123 N. Nunn and R. Sánchez de la Sierra, above note 88, p. 10; N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 79.

124 For example, among some cattle-keeper communities in South Sudan.

125 Heike Behrend, La guerre des esprits en Ouganda 1985–1996: Le mouvement du Saint-Espirit d'Alice Lakwena, Éditions L'Harmattan, Paris, 1993, p. 125.

126 Asadi, Torang, “’The Mai-Mai Rape’: Female Bodies and Collective Identities at War in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo”, Journal of Religion and Violence, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2014CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

127 N. Pendle, above note 16, p. 15.

128 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 79.

129 N. Pendle, above note 16, p. 18.

130 Ibid.; N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3.

131 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 81; UNOCI, above note 1, para. 13.

132 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 160, fn. 66.

133 N. Nunn and R. Sánchez de la Sierra, above note 88, p. 10.

134 N. Wlodarczyk, above note 3, p. 81.

135 N. Pendle, above note 16, p. 14.

136 Ibid., p. 18.

137 Ibid., p. 21.

138 J. T. D. Kelly, L. Branham and M. R. Decker above note 12.

139 Paulo Granjo, “Back Home: Post-War Cleansing Rituals In Mozambique”, in B. Nicolini (ed.), above note 32, p. 281. See also Prudence Acirokop, Addressing the Potential and Limits of the “Mato Oput” Process as a basis for Accountability, Justice and Reconciliation for Children in Northern Uganda, Innocenti Working Paper, UNICEF, undated.

140 P. Granjo, above note 139.

141 See, for example, J. T. D. Kelly, L. Branham and M. R. Decker, above note 12, p. 9; Victor, Letha and Porter, Holly, “Dirty Things: Spiritual Pollution and Life After the Lord's Resistance Army”, Journal of Eastern African Studies, Vol. 11, No. 4, 2017CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Allen, Tim et al. , “What Happened to Children Who Returned from the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda?”, Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 33, No. 4, 2020Google Scholar.

142 Akello, Grace, Richters, Annemiek and Reis, Rita, “Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda: Coming to Terms with Children's Agency and Accountability”, Intervention, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2006, p. 235CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

143 Daxhelet, Marie-Laure and Brunet, Louis, “La pensée magique chez les enfants soldats congolais: Un processus défensif antitraumatique”, Criminologie, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2014, p. 261Google Scholar.

144 Ibid.

145 Ibid.

146 For example, B. Martinelli and J. Boujou (eds), above note 2.

147 HRC Witchcraft Resolution, above note 14.

148 Bahunga, Justin, “Tackling Child Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief”, Every Child Journal, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2013, p. 4Google Scholar.