The study, titled Tradition- & Faith-Oriented Insider Mediators (TFIMs) in Conflict Transformation – Potential, Constraints, & Opportunities for Collaborative Support, launched this week in New York, conceptualises and contextualises a specific set of religious and traditional peacemakers as tradition- and faith-oriented insider mediators (TFIMs). The study considers their peace mediation roles, their potential and the constraints under which they work, and reflects on the opportunities for collaborative support that links various actors within conflict contexts.
The study was commissioned by The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers and conducted by the Berghof Foundation with the support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) and Finn Church Aid. It draws from empirical knowledge acquired through case studies in Myanmar, Thailand, Lebanon, Colombia, Kenya and Mali.
The study identifies TFIMs as persons whose social position and function is explicitly defined by tradition and religion and/or whose inspiration, motivation, strategies and methodologies are implicitly shaped by tradition and religion. Enjoying the moral legitimacy and respect required to influence the opinions and perceptions of conflict stakeholders, TFIM’s are able to facilitate dialogic processes that create and nurture space for conflict transformation.
“TFIMs not only mediate between communities in conflict, but also help create the social and human capacity to transform conflicts, e.g. by engendering new TFIMs. In Myanmar there are a couple of fascinating examples where some TFIMs are facilitating dialogue among, and the empowerment of, (intolerant) religious leaders, who then gradually emerge as TFIMs. Two key aspects that contribute to their success is that they are innovative and that they prefer to keep a very low-profile”, explains Mir Mubashir, one of the two authors of the study.
TFIMs are subject to constraints in the support structures, which limit the effectiveness of their peace mediating efforts. These constraints include lack of effective collaboration and coordination between TFIMs and other peacebuilding actors, being overshadowed by national or international peacebuilding agendas, conflict-insensitive interventions on the part of international actors, and structural restrictions on TFIM engagement.
The study proposes a collaborative support framework as a tool for addressing these constraints.
The study holds great value for the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers. “This baseline is very significant ground work for the Network in developing the concepts on how to better support local tradition and faith oriented inside mediators”, says Antti Pentikäinen, Executive Director of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.
“We will now negotiate with Network members and the UN on how to apply this framework in practice.”
Read the synopsis of the study here. Visit the website of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers by clicking here.
Right of Return, Housing, Security, and Access to Employment are pressing challenges.
Vienna. Finn Church Aid, the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers and the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) with the partnership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperations and the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies organized Central African Republic Conference on Intra-Muslim Mediation and Capacity Building to enhance inter-religious reconciliation and social cohesion in Central African Republic (CAR) 25-27th of February 2016.
Over 40 Muslim leaders leaders, representatives from Muslim women and youth communities and civil society met in a facilitated dialogue to explore how the Muslim community in the Central African Republic, which has been challenged by internal divisions in the past, could cohesively address the problems facing Muslims in the aftermath of the civil conflict that devastated the country.
The Muslim leadership of Central African Republic unanimously agreed to work together on a range of common issues, including but not limited to supporting the return of all refugees, from any religious background, who have been displaced by the recent conflict in the country.
High level participation
The meeting was also attended by a number of international observers, including noted scholar Sheikh Bin Bayyah, U.S Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein, Ufuk Gokcen, OIC Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York and the U.S. Acting Speacial Envoy for the Organization of Islamic Cooperations.
To express support from CAR’s Christian communities and the government, the Archbishop of Bangui, Dieudonne Nzapalainga, Reverend Nicolas Guerekoyame-Gbangou, and the Minister of National Reconciliation and Political Dialogue H.E. Lydie Florence N’Douba actively participated as observers.
“The idea of this conference was born out of the high level inter-religious delegation to CAR in April 2014 organized by the FCA, the Network and the U.S. State Department. Since then the Network has partnered with the International Dialogue Center (KAICIID) and worked closely with the Muslim Communities in CAR, the Transitional Government, The Inter-religious Platform and the International NGO’s to make this conference a success” stated Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi, Director of the Network for Religious and Traditional Leaders, Washington Office.
Dr. Elsanousi added that, the Finn Church Aid office in Bangui has been contributing to the advancement of peace in CAR since the crises and has played a major role to make this conference a reality.
KAICIID Secretary General, Faisal Bin Muaammar, congratulated the participants for their courage and openness in dialogue: “We must agree that we take from this terrible crisis an opportunity to rebuild this nation as the citizens wish to see it. The Central African Republic prior to the crisis was a model for positive interreligious coexistence: you have a chance to rebuild that model, to rebuild a nation where every citizen has an equal share in the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.”
Bin Bayyah: All Muslim and Christian groups should have tolerance
Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, the President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, urged greater unity among Muslim peacemakers, “Peace is the path to justice and revenge must be replaced with honest discussions, questions, and dialogue. All Muslim and Christian groups should have tolerance. All must agree on a goal, and this goal should be peace. The Christian and Muslim groups should have groups from within their communities that represent them and are able to speak on their behalf to advocate for peace”.
Ambassador David Saperstein said that he was honored to participate in this noteworthy conference, and expressed his confidence that it would help rebuild diversity and unity in communities in CAR. Ambassador Saperstein encouraged the particiants, saying, “Today, in my opinion, we begin the process of discussing one of the most important questions about CAR’s development: what will be the role of the Muslim community and how can we facilitate a return to the harmony and brotherhood that existed in the past, and which has been broken by recent violence, and reinvigorate the social cohesion so vital to CAR’s future.”
Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah during the closing remarks.
Right of return, housing and security pressing challenges
Challeneges remain. Returning refugees should be re-integrated into society, and enjoy access to housing, education and work. Women’s and youth inclusion in the peacebuilding process is far from complete. Lack of educational and economic opportunities for youth, increases growth in crime, as well as drug addiction and trafficking. Extremists could exploit youth’s marginalization to increase recruitment.
The participants were concerned by systemic state discrimination of Muslims, and highlighted the citizenship law’s implentation to deny Muslims full citizenship. They also expressed concern that Muslims are often denied access to jobs on the basis of their religion.
The participants agreed to form a follow-up committee to implement the outcomes of this meeting, which were formulated in an action plan.
A new report entitled “Inside Syria: What Local Actors Are Doing For Peace” has been released today. The report maps out local peacebuilding endeavors in Syria. Despite their importance for any future peace solution they have largely remained untapped. The report is based on research conducted by swisspeace, Conflict Dynamics International and FarikBeirut.net and commissioned by Finn Church Aid.
Local peacebuilding actors have an intimate understanding of conflict dynamics in Syrian cities, towns and villages that should be addressed to resolve the conflict and foster sustainable peace at the national and even the regional level. These local peace actors are critical for any future peace process. In the case of Syria they have received far too little attention. Current conflict resolution approaches lack a thorough analysis of local actors’ peacebuilding capacities.
Based on a series of consultations, 143 in-depth interviews with peacebuilders inside Syria and two focus group sessions in Lebanon, this report sheds light on assets, opportunities and challenges for peacebuilding in Syria. Among the diverse set of peace actors identified are community leaders, women’s groups, youth groups, NGOs and community-based organizations, local councils, and reconciliation committees. These actors have been involved in activities that range from working on negotiations for the exchange of detainees or truces, to mediation, relief work, development work and human rights activism.
In Daraa, for instance, a community leader was involved in an exchange of detainees between the government and an opposition battalion. The negotiations nearly failed if it was not for the pressure exerted by a few elders who facilitated the deal. After three weeks, a dozen of detainees were released.
This new substantive overview of local peace actors in Syria should lead to an increased understanding of their needs, challenges and priorities as well as to their better inclusion in future peace efforts.
Read the report here.
Further information
Mr. Olli Pitkanen, Regional Programme Manager, the Middle East
E-mail: olli.pitkanen@kua.fi
Tel: +962 77 535 4444 (Jordan)
Reading the newspapers in Jordan, one sees stories every day about how many Syrians have again crossed the border to Jordan. According to today’s paper, 67 refugees had entered the country within 48 hours. After emergency personnel had tended to the wounded, the refugees were taken to the safety of a refugee camp. All of them face a new and unfamiliar life in Jordan. Though geographically they are not far from home, they are, however, one whole war apart.
This coverage has been ongoing for over four years. In the articles, local ministers aren’t indignantly planning to deny refugees’ access to Jordan. Those escaping violence cannot be denied their basic right to a safe life. But one and a half million Syrians are surely straining the country’s resources over their limits. Without outside assistance, Jordan could not take care of its refugees.
Now, that assistance is alarmingly in danger of decreasing.
Statistics to some, friends to Shoboul
My co-worker, Shoboul, lives on the Syrian border, in the village of Fal Shibab. He remembers when, in March 2011, rumours of unrest in the nearby village of Daran started to circle. Protests had started when the police had detained and tortured two young men after they had painted revolutionary writings on the walls of their school. The people, however, no longer tolerated the arbitrary actions of the authorities which for so long had been the norm.
During the spring of 2011, the situation began to escalate. Syrians began to flood into Shoboul’s home town. The sound of gunfire and explosions echoed from across the border. Many of the comers were successful farmers from the region of Horan, which stretches to both sides of the border. They had been forced to leave their possessions on the other side and were now poor refugees – statistics to some, but friends to Shoboul. The situation was scary. Jordanian forces were securing the border, but shots were fired across and some villagers got wounded.
Now, after four years, grenades still sporadically fly across the border – by accident or on purpose.
Shoboul laments the fate of these people: “We had a good relationship with them. They are good people. Still they invite me into their homes just like before the war, even though now they are refugees living in poverty in a foreign country.”
Mission: a future and hope for refugee children
“Syria is no more. There are only a number of fighting groups”, Shoboul ponders, missing the good old Syria. Even though a political solution seems impossible, hope for peace lives in Syria. The farmers of Horan wish to grow their crops in peace, support themselves and live peacefully with their neighbours. They hope to one day show their hospitality to Shoboul in their own homes in Syria.
The Jordanian society has been very open to Syrian refugees, despite the costs. Attitudes have remained positive, but there is fear of them hardening. Syrians snatch jobs by accepting lower wages, and people are getting tired of the refugee habitation which is becoming less and less temporary as the war continues.
Shoboul sees education and psychosocial support essential for the refugee children: “Our task as the Finn Church Aid team is to build a sustainable future and give hope to the refugee children and youth, so that they can persevere through this conflict to which no solution is in sight.”
Shoboul hopes that peace can be established in Syria and the country can get back on its feet once more. In the meantime, Shoboul can only continue his precious work helping the refugees.
Text and photo: Olli Pitkänen
Marsabit Lake Turkana Cultural Festival is the largest annual event in Kenya. It brings together the tribes of Kenya to exhibit their traditional culture. The festival is absolutely exhausting, but absolutely fascinating as well, with two days full of singing, dancing and bonding. For a casual onlooker, it might seem that the whole of Marsabit lives in euphoric harmony. And it does – at least for a moment.
This year, however, getting here has been a long journey – not only through the mountainous desert between Marsabit town and Loiyangalani – but also through the severe communal clashes between the Turkana, Samburu and Rendile that have flared up during the month of May. For the communities it is clear: the ingredients of this culturally diverse county don’t always taste this good.
For four days leading to the festival, FCA Field Officer, Vincent Omunyin, has been working exceptionally long hours together with the County Commissioner and the National Drought Management Authority of Marsabit County to help the Turkana and Rendile communities to come to an agreement on how to reconcile after recent violent cattle rustling attacks that have claimed the lives of 7 people and injured 9 others.
Around 3,000 heads of cattle still remain in the wrong hands and this has been acknowledged by the communities. The process of recovering and returning the cattle has been slow and reluctant. The village of Sarima remains empty as the residents are still afraid to go back. As a first step, the communities decided on the cessation of hostilities, but the issues are far from a sustainable solution. The threat of police intervention hangs in the air. However, both communities agree that this is the right track. Stealing more cattle or killing more people doesn’t solve anything. Both communities are asking security forces more time to solve the issue peacefully. “The police interventions rarely bring peace”, the communities agree. “Using external force just brings another layer of grievances to the table.”
Though the situation remains tense, the communities were able to put their grievances aside and dance under the stars, surrounded by curiously strong night winds rising from Lake Turkana. For the small town of Loiyangalani and the modest settlements surrounding it, the cultural festival is the highlight of the year. This year, the festival might have really helped to bring about peace as well. Time will tell.
Peacebuilding through shared experiences
Ever since last year’s festival, the FCA Kenya Country team had been brewing a plan to bring the key change makers from the communities from the five REGAL-IR counties to this festival. The REGAL-IR program is relying on livelihoods, natural resource management and good old negotiations as vehicles for pastoral peace, but why not bring the cultural heritage to the table as well?
The plan worked beyond expectations. While bringing five delegations from five counties to the festival was a logistic nightmare, the fruits of the exposure were plenty.
FCA side programme consisted of several sessions of comparing notes, success stories, challenges and lessons from each community. It was clear that the experience was an eye opening one for many delegation members. The concerns that each community had believed to be unique to their own conflict situation ended up being everyday headache for the communities coming from opposite sides of Kenya too. The participants learned that some communities had actually solved resource based conflicts very similar to theirs which – for the time being – have been seen as unresolvable. They mapped the root causes of the conflicts, and understood that in the end, all the communities have similar needs. They talked about the needs for alternative livelihoods, education and resource sharing. They shared concerns about political incitement and cattle rustling. They compared notes on opportunities for peace. They agreed on their own responsibilities as instruments of change. They compared traditional clothing and jewellery.
The delegations that FCA brought to the festival consisted of members from several tribes, none of which are in conflict with each other. In the end of the two days of intense discussions (and dancing), the group was asked: “What do you think, if we would have brought all of your ‘enemies’ here instead of you? Do you think that their discussions would have been very different from yours?“ The question was answered with a roar of laughter. However, deep down, this trip might have been a “Eureka!” moment. Time will tell.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) is implementing the peace component of a larger program “Resilience and Economic Growth in the Arid Lands – Improving Resilience” (REGAL-IR) by the consortium led by Adeso, African Development Solutions and funded by USAID.
Peace programmes are more and more prevalent in NGOs these days. Development cooperation is trying to integrate conflict prevention and conflict management components into many of their programmes. For example, natural resources and conflict prevention, livelihoods and conflict prevention and education and conflict prevention just to name a few.
Finland, in particular, is prominent in the peacekeeping field due to the work of some of its politicians, development cooperation organisations and recent promotion of peace and mediation in international organisations such as the United Nations and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe OSCE. This is well and good as we are well aware of the suffering, destruction and economic devastation caused by conflicts.
You don’t have to be working in development cooperation to be a peacemaker. There are conflicts around us and in our own society every day.
The way we choose to react to these conflicts affects the outcome. There are two simple ways to encourage peaceful resolution to our own conflicts and conflicts around us. One of my favorite conflict resolution professors always stated that the process of conflict resolution starts with curiosity about the other.
In conflict, individuals and groups of individuals become locked into a fixed view of the other party and tend to characterize the other party as “bad” or intending to take advantage of them. Sometimes conflicts are simply a misunderstanding that can be cleared up with explanation.
Secondly, in order to be a peacemaker one must first believe that there is some good in everyone and that a balanced resolution is possible in every conflict. This differs from the pessimistic view of human nature that advocates the jungle law of “may the strong survive” and that people intend to take advantage of each other. So to be a peacemaker you must start with faith in people and curiosity about the other.
The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, for which Finn Church Aid acts as a secretariat, advocates such curiosity about the other and faith in human nature to help resolve conflicts. The Network’s research into the causes of radicalization helps us determine what attracts young men and women to violent extremist organisations so that effective programmes can be developed to address these causes.
The Network also brings conflicting parties together to a safe neutral place where they can learn about the other’s concerns and see the good that also exists within their “enemy”. Most importantly the Network is advocating for a culture of peace in our societies with the message that conflict is unavoidable but violent action is not necessary to resolve conflicts.
See the website of The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers
Kirk Johnson
Advisor, Right to Peace
When coming back to South Sudan capital Juba, the big contrasts of Sub-Saharan Africa come to mind: New buildings combined with capital city areas that are barely accessible by road, luxury goods in the supermarket, where sweets from Europe might be as expensive as a meal in an average European city. All of this while many parts of the country are dependent on food aid. This midsize capital makes you wonder: where are you going South Sudan?
We drive by the ‘Peace Hospital’, numerous signs of peacebuilding councils and the next we see a driving school with the appropriate name “End time driving school”.
End time in Juba – while everyone is in search of peace, in the many parts of the country violent conflict continues; Peace talks in Addis Ababa and elsewhere keep some hope in the air, meanwhile elsewhere there is worry that too many ex-combatants, unsolved recent conflicts, as well as long-term historical differences, idle unemployed youth and political aspirations make the situation worse once more.
We are passing by a small mountain of trash, with many goats rummaging through it to find some food. Nobody here finds food easily. Yet, it is not the unfertile ground that makes it difficult to produce food, it is the people, and the conflict between people on so many levels that makes it difficult to grow food, to transport it, to sell it, to buy it.
And while my colleagues and I work on transforming the conflict to a level that people can at least coexist, at least live as neighbors somehow, we go back to the most essential question: What does peace mean for you, for your tribe, your religion, your family?
Arriving in the office, planning our work in different parts of the country, we are told one important answer as a starting point: The Toposa people in Eastern Equatoria and Jonglei, for example, do not have a word for a foreigner. They only have the word ‘enemy’. The closest you can get in relationship to this tribe is to become “my friend who is my enemy”.
The phone rings: other colleagues travel on a UN flight. Today they did not reach communities to talk with them. The plane needed to come back without landing because the intended runway was in too bad shape after the rain to land.
Almost not accessible. But not entirely: In a couple of days my colleagues will try once again. And perhaps they find more ‘enemies’ who could become ‘our friends who are our enemies’.
The writer is a Senior Advisor for Right to Peace in Finn Church Aid
Twitter: @sinnwahn