* Innovative army reforms overshadowed by other failings
* Predatory police, slow judiciary hurt rule of law - HRW
* Liberia failing to tackle roots of conflict - truth body
By David Lewis
MONROVIA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Lack of progress in reforming Liberia's police and judiciary is undermining efforts to restore confidence in the state as the country struggles to recover after years of war.
Security and justice sector reforms are central to ensuring that the nation now attracting billions of dollars in investment does not slip back into conflict as a $500 million-a-year United Nations peacekeeping force eventually pulls out.
"The institutions which should ensure Liberia's transition from a failed state to one based on the rule of law remain very weak," said Corinne Dufka, veteran Liberia-watcher and senior West Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch.
When 14 years of fighting died down in 2003, instead of integrating the various factions into a new force, Liberia scrapped all the armed groups and the U.S. government has so far spent $250 million on building a new army.
The 2,200-strong force is due to be ready by 2012 but Dufka said that in the meantime predatory police officers and ineffective courts were the main worry.
"Persistent problems in the judiciary and policing sectors undermine both the fight against corruption and the president's development agenda, which are of course inextricably linked."
Efforts to try members of a transitional government accused of stealing millions of dollars failed. The current government has also been hit by scandals, including the resignation of the interior minister accused of embezzling devlopment funds.
An intrusive economic governance programme, known as GEMAP, which saw foreigners brought in to counter sign payments in key ministries, was praised by some. But rights groups complain a weak judiciary means few of the corrupt are ever convicted.
CROOKED COPS?
Police have been stripped of weapons, but they still man checkpoints which aid workers and business vehicles sail through, but where taxis and other commercial vehicles are halted and often not released until money changes hands.
Jimmy Johnson, a former fighter turned taxi driver complained of police harassment. "They stop you. They jump in. They take you to the police station. They make you pay money."
Aside from filling in for the absent army, U.N. peacekeepers are helping to train and equip the police.
But Liberia's lack of resources -- an annual budget of around $350 million -- means police officers look elsewhere to top up their monthly salaries of $80.
Peter Chapman, from the Carter Center, said it will take generations to restore confidence after years of abuse by the authorities and rebels.
"In rural areas there is a lack of trust in the justice sector. Often this is because their interaction is limited to them, or people they know, paying bribes," he said.
A relatively heavy peacekeeping presence has smothered local discontent. But the force is gradually being reduced, and tensions are simmering amid unemployment levels of around 80 percent.
"The underlying issues are land, citizenship and religion," said Joe Hindovei Pemagbi, Liberia coordinator for OSIWA, a George Soros-funded body that promotes democracy.
LAND, RELIGION AND ELECTIONS
Conflicts, which often erupt out of minor issues, frequently pit predominantly Muslim Mandingo against other Christian communities. U.N. peacekeepers had to intervene in February over one such incident in the northern Lofa county.
Lack of trust in institutions often leads to Liberians taking the law into their own hands, and to violence, according to Ellen Margrethe Loj, head of the U.N. mission. [ID:nLDE68409B]
The lack of access to, and trust in formal legal bodies also means that traditional justice and the role of local leaders remains vital. "Liberia needs the formal system to move forward but the traditional system is important," Chapman said.
There are fears of further escalation as the country nears elections in 2011. "These issues will definitely be politicised. Around elections it is bound to happen. It just depends on how much civic education is done," Pemagbi said.
Spillover to or from neighbouring Guinea and Ivory Coast, both seeking to hold elections this year, is also a threat.
Unlike in neighbouring Sierra Leone, where a special U.N.-backed court tried those involved in the 1991-2003 war, Liberia sought to rebuild first, and tackle the question of crimes committed during fighting later.
The country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission now wants to set up a tribunal for those accused of the most serious crimes and bar others, including incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, from office. This has so far been ignored.
Commission head Jerome Verdier blames the vested interests of the elite for delays in reforms and warns of the implications of failing to deal with corruption, poverty and the lack of education, which he said were at the heart of the war.
"If those issues are ignored, if those recommendations are ignored, in the next ten years, I can see Liberia embroiled in another conflict, maybe of a dimension more serious that what we have already experienced," he said. (Editing by Giles Elgood)
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