wfn.org | FEATURE: Creating Space for Traditional Peace-Building Mechanisms

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

FEATURE: Creating Space for Traditional Peace-Building Mechanisms
in Africa
Inter-Faith Peace Summit: Rediscovering Indigenous Conflict
Resolution Practices

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa/GENEVA, 23 October 2002 (LWI) -
Progress in the fields of technology, medicine, information,
communication and commerce, is a hallmark of the 20th and 21st
centuries. But peace and harmonious coexistence remain beyond
reach. Millions of people have been killed in violent conflicts.

It is against this background that leaders of faith communities in
Africa gathered in Benoni near Johannesburg to jointly chart a
plan to promote peace on the continent. A significant topic of the
October 14-19 Inter-Faith Peace Summit in Africa, organized by the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and hosted by the National
Religious Leaders' Forum of South Africa (NRLFSA) was African
traditional methods of resolving conflicts. Consequently,
delegates called for the use of traditional systems of peace
building in the bid to end violent conflicts in Africa.

The summit acknowledged, among other things that traditional
methods of resolving conflict are inherent in African communal
life, and that they did in fact work. Addressing the more than 100
representatives of faith communities drawn from 21 African
countries, Prof. Catherine Odora Hopper from the University of
Pretoria, South Africa, noted that while tremendous progress has
been made in conflict management, very little has been done in the
area of peace building. Africa is racked with conflict "...and it
is clear that our understanding of innovations should extend to
the rediscovery of traditional indigenous resources for peace
building and human security," she said.

A summit delegate, Ms. Nafisat Musa from the Ministry of Justice,
Plateau State, Nigeria, said elders still form a crucial part in
the administration of justice and reconciliation in the Yoruba and
other communities in the West African country. Issues such as
inheritance and domestic antagonism within clans and families are
often settled by elders.

In East Africa, traditional ways of resolving conflicts have
occasionally been employed. In all cases, dialogue, mediation,
relationship and community-based approaches were stressed. Among
the Acholi of northern Uganda, reconciliation and forgiveness form
the most important factor of good neighborliness. And like in many
other African traditions, rituals and taboos have been put in
place to protect the sanctity of life and dignity of human beings.

The Acholi's Mato-Oput ritual involves the appearance of an
individual or group of people involved in a conflict before a
council of elders (Lotido-Apoka). After lengthy deliberations, the
root cause of the conflict is established. Careful scrutiny in
such situations would reveal the party that erred and when the
guilt is admitted certain prescribed therapy follows. By all means
the punishment must lead to harmony and peace. Mato-Oput is
usually performed after a fight, disagreement or any rift that
would affect harmonious coexistence in the society. Where arms are
involved, a ceremony known as "bending of spears" is performed.
This involves the exchange of spears between the warring parties
and the bending of the tips of the same. From then on, all the
parties must vow not to harm one another, since they are united by
the ritual and therefore rendered brothers and sisters.

Another example of peace-building mechanism comes from the
Banyarwanda community in Rwanda. Gacaca, an intricate system of
customs and traditions that starts at community level, derives its
name from a grass called Urucaca that thrives well in homesteads.
The mechanism is founded on dialogue, reconciliation and
reparation. Whenever there is a feud between two or more parties,
elders gather in front of the homestead amidst Urucaca. Each party
is then asked to present their case. The role of the council of
elders is to facilitate the reconstruction of relationships.
Meanwhile the party in the wrong is required to pay a fine as a
way of punishment. Soon after, beer is shared by both parties and
the council of elders, followed by a feast.

In modern Rwanda, Gacaca is used as an institution to find out the
truth about the 1994 genocide. The country's special genocide
courts have tried less than six percent of those detained for
suspected genocide offences. There are some 110,000 Rwandese in
the country's detention facilities, the vast majority of them
still awaiting trial. The Gacaca system currently works as a
tribunal, having been embraced by the community and the law. Late
last year, 260,000 adults of "integrity, honesty and good conduct"
were selected by local communities to serve as magistrates on the
more than 10,000 Gacaca tribunals.

In Botswana, traditional courts form a critical part of the
justice system, Judge Elijah Legwaila, President of Botswana's
Industrial Court, told participants in the inter-faith summit.
Traditional dispute resolution, principally aimed at preventing
the rupture of relationships, in addition to rectifying the wrong,
begins at the family level. In cases where disputes cannot be
dealt with at that level, they are referred to the ward Kgotla, a
localized court in the vicinity of the defendant's home.
Throughout the process, the defendant's kinsmen are actively
involved. If the matter cannot be resolved at the ward Kgotla,
then it goes to the main Kgotla, which is presided over by the
chief. Mokgwa le Molao, the legal system in this context,
literally means "law and custom," and expresses the character of a
system of law that prescribes a moral content.

African philosophies emphasize a way of being with the world that
admits the openness of a circle concept that acknowledges
obligations, seeks harmony, balance and equilibrium. It is upon
such principles and spirit that Ubuntu, an attitude of
togetherness in spirit and humanness is founded. According to Rev.
Dr. Ishmael Noko, LWF General Secretary, Ubuntu bears the central
meaning that nobody can survive and realize their full potential
in isolation from others, whether the isolation is by choice or
intended.

Ntate Kgalushi Koka from the Karaites Institute of Africology,
South Africa, says the continent is at a period of reawakening,
during which it should re-examine the intricacies of its glorious
past for a rebirth of spiritual, social and political concepts
that can provide a solution to the present conflicts.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 mllion Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

*	*	*
LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
English Editor: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30
http://www.lutheranworld.org/