People-to-People Initiatives

People-to-People conferences have taken place thoughout Southern Sudan, bringing together communities to draw up, implement and sustain steps towards peace.

Description

NSCC is a facilitating body for peacemaking. At People-to-People conferences, participants from a given region and community get together to discuss the terms of peace, its importance, and how it can be established and maintained. The peace agreement and its maintenance must belong to the people. The NSCC plays an important role in organising and facilitating peace meetings and conferences, monitoring peace councils, encouraging follow-up and seeking support and funding for peace projects.

Aims / Objectives

NSCC and people in Southern Sudan have worked together to coordinate, facilitate and endorse conferences related to the grassroots, traditional peacemaking concept. The goal of the People-to-People initiative is to achieve grassroots-level reconciliation and peace through an ongoing process of conferences that are led by the civic leaders and the people of Southern Sudan.

The role of the NSCC in the People-to-People peace conferences is to:

• identify and respond to peace initiatives emanating from the grassroots;
• provide facilitation skills and services which are conducive to dialogue and reconciliation;
• witness and endorse peace agreements and consolidate their achievements;
• protect the peace process from internal and external threats;
• promote an environment in which the peace process can be sustained;
• link local peace initiatives when appropriate in order to consolidate wider peace settlements;
• generate consensus around the peace agenda and bring like-minded people together;
• document the achievements of conferences, and advocate nationally and internationally for greater support for an expanded peace process.
  
  

Achievements / Learning Points

People-to-People conferences have unique features, which contribute to their success. Firstly, they are open to all members of the community who are committed to peacemaking. Secondly, they use traditional methods of peacemaking. Thirdly, they involve extensive preparation work to ensure understanding and commitment for peace. Lastly, they use external observers to encourage and build support for peacemaking.

The People-to-People conferences use these practices to give the process legitimacy and sustainability. The details depend on the relevant ethnic group's culture: for example, the conferences in Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile region start with the sacrificial slaughter of a white bull which symbolises peace. This commits all the attendees of the conference to peace and ensures unity. The conference then enters a stage of dialogue, where past atrocities and acts of violence are recounted. This enables those who have suffered to have a voice in the process, and all are given time to speak and share their story.

After recounting the past, the participants begin to construct a path towards peace which will be sustainable in the future. Past atrocities are usually forgiven in their entirety, while barriers are put in place to ensure that they are not committed again in the future. Abducted people and stolen goods are returned. Trade opportunites and water/land sharing deals are made.

Slowly, reconciliation is achieved and peace is made. Each phase is discussed, reiterated and refined. Smaller committees are formed to address certain issues.  Women and young people are also given the opportunity to form committees, present agendas, and express their feelings and ideas. After several days, throughout which there are prayer meetings and times for worship, the peace conference comes to an end. At the end of the peace conference, there is treaty signed by all in attendance.

The results of these conferences will be shared with the larger Southern Sudanese community as delegates return to their homes and discuss the progress that has been made with their people. In the closing ceremony, another white bull is killed to symbolise the significance of what has occurred.

Achievements / Learning Points

NSCC has organised over 30 major People-to-People peace conferences, numerous mini-conferences and many meetings and councils for preparing and monitoring peace agreements. Each of these has been successful to varying degrees, but they all represent a significant step towards greater harmony, peace and cooperation among the peoples of Southern Sudan and marginalised areas of Sudan.

Many peace agreements have been drawn up, signed, disseminated throughout communities and adhered to. Abducted people and stolen cattle have been returned, raids and attacks have decreased, land and water sharing agreements have been made and trade has recommenced between formerly antagonistic communities. Tribal courts have been set up to deal with further disputes, and peace constituencies have been established in Southern Sudan to articulate the need and possibilities for peace. The Entebbe fora that resulted in the peace talks currently taking place in Naivasha are a demonstration of the significant role that peace constituencies can play when properly coordinated. The People-to-People programme has also allowed the NSCC to establish partnerships and networks linking a range of organisations, both locally and internationally.

More generally, the conferences have increased regional awareness of dialogue as an alternative to conflict, and of the importance of peaceful coexistence and integration. They have proved the value of blending traditional, modern and Christian methodologies with near-extinct African conflict resolution structures as a means to bringing justice and reconciliation to the conflict. The development and refinement of the People-to-People model itself is also an achievement, and it has been successfully adopted by a wide range of NGOs and faith-based organisations.

Learning points of the People-to-People initiatives:

• The availability and proliferation of small arms and light weapons exacerbates insecurity and ethnic tension within and between communities. Every homestead in Southern Sudan owns at least one firearm. With increasing insecurity and a lack of government protection, many families have opted to ensure their security by owning guns. Some of the guns are then used in murders and abductions.
• Inter- and intra-ethnic conflicts within and between pastoral communities in some regions of Sudan (i.e. the Western Equatorial communities and IDPs) result in hatred and tension which is against the spirit of the People-to-People process. These conflict patterns arise from deep-rooted cultural practices such as cattle raids, revenge raids and competition over natural resources such as grazing land, watering points, and fishing grounds.
• Promoting systems that develop and nurture a peace culture that crosscuts the diverse heritage of the people of Sudan requires patience. People-to-People peacebuilding is a gradual process. It therefore has the potential to bring order to societies and cultures that are in conflict, by consolidating existing peace initiatives into tangible social and economic changes that help improve people’s living standards. Establishing livelihood systems such as commerce, agriculture, education, security and healthcare is paramount for a lasting peace.
  
  

Geographical area of operation

Most of the areas in Upper Nile and Bahr el Ghazal have functional peace councils and committees. Each state council has peace committees operating at the county level.

Associated Organisations

PACT; Sudan Peace Foundation; NESI Network; BYDA.