Peace Exchange in Goma, DR Congo

Last week was a very exciting one for Insight on Conflict, as for the first time we organised an event to bring together local peacebuilding organisations featured on this site. The ‘Peace Exchange’ took place in Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo from July 19-21, with more than 20 organisations in attendance, from four different provinces of DRC (North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri (Orientale) and Maniema). The event was intended to bring together a range of local peacebuilding organisations for them to share their experiences and learn from each other, whilst at the same time exploring opportunities for future collaboration. We had representation from a couple of larger organisations such as HEAL Africa and Women for Women International, though the majority of participants were from organisations whose work unfortunately will be little known outside their local communities.

From the perspective of Peace Direct and Insight on Conflict, the event was an opportunity to learn more about what the challenges are for local peacebuilders in DR Congo. To best give the peacebuilders the space to express their thoughts, we choose to use ‘Open Space Technology‘ to facilitate the event, a method that allowed the participants themselves to decide the agenda and topics to discuss. This was an approach not without risks, but thankfully the enthusiastic participation of the peacebuilders meant that the time was fully utilised and ensured that we focused on the topics that were really important to them.

The event proved extremely useful to participants, in particular in allowing them to share the similarities and also the differences in their work with groups from other provinces who they would not normally have come into contact with. By the last morning, intense discussions were taking place as to how the groups could continue to collaborate or even form a network for future work together. Their professionalism, enthusiasm and plans for a better future for DR Congo were deeply inspiring.

One of the main points raised by the local peacebuilders was their belief in the importance of sharing information about their work with the outside world, using the internet. Over the next few days and weeks, we will be uploading content about each of the groups featured, as well as the Peace Exchange itself. We hope you visit our DR Congo section to view the information about these groups.

Ruairi Nolan, Insight on Conflict, 26 July 2010

Mourn and condemn death of young people in Kashmir (Yakjah Press Release)

Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network is deeply saddened by the death of young people in Kashmir. Every life is precious and every life should be protected. Citizens need to feel secure and that should be the ultimate purpose and intent of security forces, including the Jammu and Kashmir police. Maximum restraint should be shown even in the face of deepest provocation and the young people taken into confidence. An immediate dialogue has to be initiated between angry youth and the administration. People in Kashmir want to live their lives normally; hence all sections of the society should ensure that day to day existence of an average Kashmiri is one that of dignity and honor.

We specially ask the Central Reserve Police Force and Jammu and Kashmir Police to ensure safety of every human life. A life gone can never be recovered. We live in a civilized world any violation from men in uniform is not acceptable. While we appreciate those who perform their duties as people’s protectors, we strongly condemn the action of those who step out and violate. They should be punished.

We also appeal to all those who provoke and influence young minds to come on the streets and use violent ways to express their anger not to mislead the youth. Every Kashmiri youth living in Valley has great potential to achieve excellence, it should not be wasted. We all have to come together to find ways for our grievances and sense of injustice. Let’s bring our energies together for brining peace to our troubled motherland. Silent protests and dialogue should be used as ways to resolve issues.

We join in mourning the families of those who have lost their loved ones.

Ashima Kaul, Founder, Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network

Combatants for Peace tour of the UK (July 2010)

The peacebuilding organisation Combatants for Peace will be taking part in a number of public events in the UK from July 24-30. The Combatants for Peace movement was started in 2005 by Palestinians who had been part of the violent struggle against the occupation and Israelis who had fought in the Israeli army. Having put down their arms, Combatants for Peace members are engaged in a non-violent struggle against the Israeli occupation and for a viable peace in the area. They are committed to using dialogue and reconciliation as a way to promote the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, alongside the State of Israel.

Events will be held in the Warrington, Coventry and London. The visit is being coordinated by Encounters, an arts group that specialises in designing and delivering tailor made participatory arts projects and interventions that inspire creativity, dialogue and exchange between people of all ages and cultures. For further information on the Combatants for Peace events, visit this page.

Ruairi Nolan, Insight on Conflict. 28 June 2010.

Discussion on the ethics of peace education in Muslim countries

We recently posted a link to PRIO’s new website, ‘PeacE – the Forum for Peacebuilding Ethics’. This week, the site is featuring a great contribution from our own Local Correspondent for Pakistan, Zahid Shahab Ahmed. Zahid’s post is entitled ‘Peace Education in the Muslim Context: the Case of Pakistan‘. It’s an excellent exploration of a complex issue and we encourage you to check it out!

Ruairi Nolan, Insight on Conflict, 25 May 2010

Ethics in Peacebuilding

Peacebuilding constantly throws up all sorts of dilemmas. How should peacebuilders engage with military forces? At what stage in a peace process should reconciliation be promoted? What role should ‘outsiders’ play? These sorts of issues can often be thought of in practical terms, but it is important that peacebuilders have the space to discuss and explore the ethical considerations of their work. In order to provide a space for peacebuilders to discuss these very sorts of ethical issues, the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) has set up ‘PeacE – The Forum for Peacebuilding Ethics’. On the site, they argue that research on peacebuilding has tended to focus on the practicalities of how to create peace, with insufficient time spent thinking about the ethical assumptions that constitute the underlying fundament of the work: “If an ethical turn is not made at this point, the field of peacebuilding research will make itself irrelevant or even illegitimate.”

The site already features a number of interesting articles, and PeacE is currently looking for more contributions and comments from peacebuilders: ‘Detailed dilemmas and personal experiences as well as more general policy-oriented and theoretical perspectives are encouraged’. As the field is still relatively young, this is an opportunity to discuss peacebuilding ethics at a critical stage in its development.

Ruairi Nolan, Insight on Conflict. 21 April 2010

Sudan Election Updates from Juba and Jonglei State

The counting of votes has just started in Sudan in elections that are so crucial to the future of the country. We can here provide a couple of ‘on the ground’ updates on the Sudanese elections from local peacebuilders, one from Juba, one from Jonglei:

Juba

As the voting kicked off on the 11th of April many Sudanese voters turned up to cast their votes for the first time in the history of southern Sudan. However many of the polling stations did not open in time, some opening at 10am, others at midday, and still others not at all that day. Reasons given were missing ballot papers or missing voter registration books.

The delays led to frustrations as many voters were left waiting. Just finding your name in the huge lists outside polling station was challenge enough. It took me 3 hours and 6 different polling stations before I could find mine.

Plain clothed security personnel patrolled the polling stations, and on Tuesday in South Kator they arrested 19 of the domestic observers. We approached the head of security personnel and the observers were released – but no reason was given for their arrest.

Counting begins tomorrow and I’ll keep you up to date with progress.

Taban Kiston Santo, Collaborative for Peace in Sudan, Juba, April 15 2010

Election Fever in Jonglei

In the thick of Jonglei many people turned out for the elections, many excited and yet at the same time sad and angry.

The excitement was caused by the furore around the elections, it is a first for many of us, and many of us since birth have never experienced such an exercise. There was also a lot of sadness and anger as many others could not get their names on the registers, and many people were left to walk many miles from centre to centre in search of their names. Those who found their names were made to stand in long queues, even women who had had no choice but to bring their babies with them. This so far is the most complex election exercise I have ever encountered within the region with individuals having to vote multiple times, and even with an extension, it was not enough to ease the burden.

There was and still is a very heavy police presence, and there are also some plaincloth security agents within the centres. We were met with brute force twice when my Coordinator Mr. Koang tried to take pictures of the exercise. Anyone who had a camera was supposed to have been given an ID by the NEC. It has been very frustrating especially to those who were meant to be monitoring and reporting on the elections since no one with a camera was allowed to get close enough to the voting centres. Even phones were being searched for cameras.

Yet even with the volatile state of Jonglei, the exercise went ahead and exceeded our expectations.

I am now on my way from Ayod County heading towards Juba; hoping that the announcements of the winners and victors of this exercise will not plunge us into deeper and murkier waters.

All that is left now is to wait and get the final and official confirmation, the rest will be left for us to judge and any comment stemming from the same will only serve to strengthen the resolve of the people towards a more democratic space and possibly a democratic government and leadership.

George O’Ngoha, SWIDAP/Collaborative for Peace in Sudan, Ayod south constutuency, Jonglei State, South Sudan. April 16 2010. (Additional information and reporting done by John Koang and his JCEP team leaders)

‘People’s Resolution’ in Pakistan

We’ve just posted some information on a ‘People’s Resolution’ in Pakistan, that calls for a shift from a security state to a welfare state, a stronger representative democracy, provincial autonomy, accountability and an independent foreign policy. The resolution was based on dialogue formulated from 90 People’s Assemblies held across Pakistan in March. The dialogue was facilitated by the group Aman Ittehad.

This below photo illustrates powerfully the scale of the conference that led to the resolution:

Click here to read more about the People’s Resolution>>>

INCORE Peacebuilding Summer School

INCORE, the peacebuilding research centre in the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, are still accepting applications for their 11th annual summer school, which this year will take place June 7th-11th. Three modules will run as part of the course:

• Evaluation in Conflict Prone Settings
• Interpersonal Reconciliation after Violent Political Conflict
• Peacemaking and Peacebuilding: Exploring the Lessons Learned from Northern Ireland

For further information and to apply: www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/courses/ss/

Israeli, Palestinian and Pakistani organisations added

We’re pleased to say that we’ve this week added two new regions to Insight on Conflict. We recently ran a survey on the site, and were unsurprised when Pakistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were two places that visitors were most keen to find more information on. We’ve therefore managed to gather information on peacebuilding initiatives in both these regions.

Our approach has been a little different in each case. For Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we have made an agreement with the well-known Peace NGO Forum to feature the groups that are part of that their network. There are such a range of impressive groups operating there that we felt this was the most efficient way to quickly allow us to show a representative view of Israeli and Palestinian peacebuilding, and you can now find information on more than 80 different groups here.

In the case of Pakistan, we have found two new Local Correspondents, Zahid Shahab Ahmed and Gulalai Ismael. Because of the size of the country – at over 170 million people, it will be easily the largest country we feature – we feel that two Local Correspondents will better allow us to give a national range of peacebuilders. Zahid has started us off with over 20 peacebuilding organisations, which you can read more about here.

We’ll be expanding these sections in the coming months, alongside other new conflict regions, so please do check back. As ever, any comments or suggestions are most welcome.

Ruairi Nolan, Insight on Conflict, 1 April 2010.

New report on upcoming election in Burundi

I have written recently about views on the ground (in Mabanda and Muriza) on the upcoming elections in Burundi. I have just come across this report by IRIN which I think confirms some of the fears on the elections that I wrote about, describing the situation as ‘explosive’.  It’s well worth reading.

Landry Ninteretse, 12 March 2010