Interview

Interview An Interview with an ex-Guerrilla in Colombia

Hasan Dodwell, Insight on Conflict’s Local Correspondent for Colombia, talks to Yezid Arteta, a former guerrilla in the Colombian conflict who is now dedicated to finding a peaceful end to the conflict. Yezid talks about life as a guerilla, his decision to end his involvement in violence, and prospects for peace in Colombia. Read more >>>

Interview An interview with Johan Galtung

Professor Johan Galtung talks to Insight on Conflict’s Ben Baruch about the Arab Spring, his concepts of positive peace and negative peace, the conflict in Sudan, his views on mediation and the merits of local vs. outsider participation in peace processes. Read more >>>

Interview Bishop Ochola from the ARLPI in Uganda

Insight on Conflict interviews Bishop Ochola from the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) in Uganda. The ARLPI is a leading peacebuilding organisation in Uganda and was central to bringing together the government and Lord’s Resistance Army around the negotiating table for the 2008 peace talks. Bishop Ochola discusses both the work of the ARLPI and his own personal motivation for seeing peace in Uganda after losing both his eldest daughter and wife to the conflict. Read more >>>

Interview Liberal peacebuilding and civil society in Sri Lanka

Civil society organisations have played a very active and at times controversial role in the peace process in Sri Lanka. According to Oliver Walton, Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, much of the controversy has been caused by the relationship between civil society organisations and international donors. Oliver kindly agreed to be interviewed about his research. Read more >>>

Interview Fambul Tok: Grassroots reconciliation in Sierra Leone

Fambul Tok is an innovative peacebuilding organisation from Sierra Leone. They draw on traditional African practices to create a community owned and led reconciliation project. Two members of Fambul Tok recently visited London, and were kind enough to conduct a video interview with us to explain their work. Read more >>>

Interview Voices of Baghdad: an interview

Arabella Lawson interviews Annet Henneman who is tellling us about her impressions of her theatre reportage ‘Voices of Baghdad’, which she set up and performed with four young Iraqis. She tells us their stories and the difficulties in achieving change, and not loosing your own belief in making this change happen. Read more >>>

Interview Pakistan: Bargad – youth development and peace

Perhaps the only youth development organisation founded entirely by students, Bargad is a leading peace organisation in Pakistan. Bargad was formed in 1997 by a group of enthusiastic students from Lahore in Pakistan. Its mission is to promote peace, justice and cooperation among young people in Pakistan. To find out more about Bargad and how the group has been promoting peace through youth-focused projects, I interviewed Sabiha Shaheen, Executive Director of Bargad. Read more >>>

Interview Sisi Ni Amani, ‘peacemapping’ in Kenya

Many of us are familiar with the concept of crisismapping through the work of organizations like Ushahidi. Two students have recently started asking the question: Why only map crisis? Why not also map peace? It seems only natural then that Sisi Ni Amani, a peace-mapping initiative has, like Ushahidi, also come out of Kenya. Read more >>>

Interview Israel-Palestine: The Other Voice

The Other Voice is one of Israel/Palestine’s most unlikely peace groups, bringing together those living on the fault line of the conflict between Gaza and the surrounding Israeli towns. In this video, local correspondent Susanna Bennett, speaks to Erik and Roni, who are part of the core group of 20 volunteers who keep Other Voice going. Read more >>>

Interview Colombia: an analysis of the new ‘Victims Law’

In August 2010, Juan Manuel Santos was elected as the new Colombian president. His government has pushed forward a new victims law that according to the law’s creators will offer compensation to around 4 million victims of the Colombian conflict. It is being hailed as a major step for Colombia. There are however concerns from certain sectors, particularly from human rights and victims organisations. We speak with the legal human rights organisation Yira Castro about the law and its capacity to address successfully the issue of the victims of the Colombian conflict. Read more >>>