Archive: January, 2011
From the field Is Uganda ready for a peaceful, legitimate election?
The Opposition Candidates in Uganda have called for the postponement of the forthcoming presidential and general elections until Voter’s cards are issued to over four million newly-registered voters to avert a possible crisis. This call was made at a joint press conference held in Kampala addressed by four opposition candidates. Read more >>>
Commentary Talk on ‘the Nonviolent Soldier of Islam’
Late notice, but for anyone living in Bradford, UK, tonight (20 January) there will be a public illustrated talk on ‘The Nonviolent soldier of Islam, Abdul Ghaffar Khan’ in Manningham. This giant of a man (in all ways) fought nonviolently for independence from the British and was especially active between 1910-1940 in the Khyber Pukhoonkhawa province of what was to be Pakistan. He was a Pashtun political and spiritual leader, a lifelong pacifist, and a devout Muslim. He was a champion of womens’ rights. Nor did he lose faith in the compatibility of Islam and nonviolence. Read more >>>
From the field Fate of Nepal’s Peace Process!
Nepal’s seven month-long prime ministerial election finally ended on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 when the lone PM candidate of the Nepali Congress (NC), Ram Chandra Paudel, announced the withdrawal of his candidacy shortly before the sixteenth round of voting. Paudel was running against Puspa Kamal Dahal (“Prachand”), from the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), after the previous Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, resigned from the post in June 2010. After the seventh round of voting, Prachada withdrew his candidacy saying it was meaningless to continue to compete in an election which did not provide any result. Read more >>>
From the field Displaced again: IDPs hit by floods in Sri Lanka
Under the post-war recovery programmes launched by the Sri Lankan government, people in North and East cultivated many more paddy fields as increasing numbers of refugees returned to claim their own agricultural lands. This was a hopeful beginning for young people, many of whom have spent much all their lives between conflict zones and refugee camps. Read more >>>
Commentary Aid agencies challenged by international survey
International aid agencies are challenged today by a survey of over 1,000 of their developing-world partners, who want more control over solving their own countries’ problems. The ground-breaking survey measures aid agencies’ performance according to the views of organisations that they fund in the global South. Its major finding is that these local organisations reject the current model of international aid programmes, in which they typically feature as sub-contractors implementing plans devised by the international community. Instead they want to lead their own programmes, with support but not control from outsiders. Read more >>>
From the field Interview with a Leader of a Peace Community in Urabá, Colombia
Jesús Emilio Tuberquia is a leader of the San José de Apartadó Peace Community in Urabá, northwest Colombia. The Urabá region has lived a bloody recent history – a history that is yet to reach its end. It is a heavily militarised zone with a strong presence from guerrilla, army and paramilitary forces. Urabá acted as the launch pad for the savage paramilitary expansion across Colombia in 1997. In February 2005 the Peace Community suffered a now infamous massacre in which paramiltary forces combined with the Colombian army to brutally murder 8 civilians, including several children. Read more >>>
Interview Wi’am: Helping the people of Bethlehem see Stars not Bars
Conflict breeds conflict and Israel’s occupation of Palestine has consequently increased violent disputes within everyday Palestinian society. The strains of conflict create a potent mix of societal problems. High unemployment, land confiscation, checkpoints, economic deterioration, and a stagnating peace process combine to create a perilous mix of tensions. The holy town of Bethlehem has felt this growing despair. Domestic violence has increased, drug abuse is rising amongst the young and the Separation Wall has severed vital economic links with Jerusalem; unemployment is now at 23%. Wi’am is a Bethlehem based NGO that has evolved to mitigate these social problems. They mediate in community conflicts to stop them escalating by using a traditional Arabic process of reconciliation called Sulha. Read more >>>
Insight on Conflict Newsletter December 2010
Connecting community security and DDR; When is international peacemaking illegal?; Gender, conflict and the MDGs; The failure to protect civilians in Afghanistan; The cost of future conflict in Sudan Read more >>>
