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Africa: Conflict Resolution to the Rescue
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The East African (Nairobi)
OPINION
5 May 2008
Posted to the web 5 May 2008
Kariuki Thuku
Nairobi
African ethnic groups and clans have shared overlapping boundaries, spirituality, miseries and peace since the dawn of mankind.
Equally, conflicts are not strangers to Africans nor congenital but rather intermittent, regrettable and solvable.
Porini Association shared its experiences, knowledge, feelings and challenges with eight nomadic groups - Maasai, Borana, Turkana, Rendille, Pokot, Gabra, Somali and Samburu - at a time when ethnic fighting among pastoralist communities was at its peak.
The ancient ritualistic cattle raids had mutated into gruesome armed human raids. This scenario served to reinforce stereotyping and prejudice.
Nomadic groups were portrayed as ethnocentric, misanthropic bandits, warriors and morans. Media houses had a field day. This was an insult to the peaceable women, children and elders who never go nor support war.
Porini set up a study focused on understanding the thinking that guided peace initiatives in each of the eight ethnic groups. The research involved giving these communities a forum to speak about their peace traditions instead of war. They spoke about ritual trees, beauty, music, proverbs, honey, waters, grass, life, spirituality and so on.
Ultimately, their thinking on peace revolved around God, the environment, the ancestors, earth, the elders and the community - the forces of life that are invoked so as to guarantee and activate peace and tranquility. They are also the source of Africans' analytical capacity and indeed, peacebuilding.
It was established that within these communities, there exists no dichotomy between peace, biodiversity, the earth, spirituality, beauty and humanity.
This African traditional system of peacemaking and conflict resolution is increasingly becoming acknowledged as fundamental to African-accrued knowledge and wisdom.
The above peace heritage is informed by the so-called first principles of the African worldview. It is a worldview founded on a set of accrued facts arising from observation, experience and relational interconnectedness of people and their environment. They are based on restorative justice.
African peace traditions are flexible as opposed to the rigid state-based approaches that rely on the same administrative structures resented by the people.
Secondly, local peace traditions address the broad aspects of human to human relations. Peace cultures enable the community to re-evaluate and revise their ethics, humanness, and values. All these are packaged as a ritual and re-communicated to the society.
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Kariuki Thuku is the programme officer, Porini Association
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