Removing Obstacles to Peace

The Limitations of Building Peace through Local Level Human/Economic Development and Reconciliation Activities.

Kacoke Madit 98, London, UK July 17^th and 19^th 1998

Rosalba Oywa
Assistant Programme Co-ordinator, ACORD Gulu
Acting Co-ordinator, Peoples' Voices for Peace Gulu

I am very grateful to the organising committee of KM 98, for giving a chance to the ordinary people from Acholi land to describe their own experiences and opinions on the 12 years armed conflict which has led to blood baths and untold human sufferings.

We have travelled all the way from Uganda to join our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters and fellow Ugandans who are living as refugees and/or working and studying in various countries, to try to analyse collectively, the social and political dynamics unfolding in Uganda. It is our belief that the situation in this affected sub-region is worrying not only to us living there, but to many people who are concerned about peace, stability and development, and who believe in the need for peaceful coexistence in Uganda, and maintaining the positive image which Uganda has developed under the current government.

The nature of violence experienced over the years has a wide range of dimensions. It has inflicted deep damage on social relations, and created internal divisions between the young and old, neighbours, different clans and tribes. Our main objective during this conference is therefore to work together to analyse key problems and identify a course of action that will help to harmonise different interests and open the way to peaceful relationships between persons, tribes and communities.

People have had opportunity to share their experiences and their own analyses of the conflict during many peace fora organised at local, national and regional levels, as well as through involvement in undertaking thematic participatory research projects on critical conflict issues. The involvement of people in the research projects is itself an empowering process which leads to deeper understanding of the nature, pattern and dynamics of the on-going armed conflict affecting Gulu and Kitgum districts.

Research has included topics such as 'Women and Conflict' (1994), 'Violence against Women in Armed Conflict Situations. An Issue of Human Rights' (1996), 'Survey of Causes and Consequences of Armed Conflict in Gulu District' (1997); 'Men and Violence and their attitude to it' (1997). ACORD is also currently a partner, together with Makerere, Nairobi, Leeds and Sussex Universities, in a large-scale research project looking at contemporary conflicts and peoples' responses to them.

Local and national peace fora have been organised by a range of organisations, including a conference with the theme 'A Search for Solutions for the Northern Uganda Conflict' organised by ACORD in February 1997. Most recently all the religious leaders in Gulu and Kitgum districts collaborated in organising Bedo Piny, a three day workshop held in Gulu and attended by more than 150 participants from Gulu, Kitgum and elsewhere in Uganda, resulting in an important declaration on the causes and factors lengthening the war, as well as possible ways forwards,

It is the views of people expressed through these research and peace processes that we wish to share with you. In summary, those of us who have come from Gulu and Kitgum districts are survivors of a long-running conflict which has left many lives lost, a vast number of houses burned, properties destroyed and looted, and immense anguish and helplessness. It is difficult to find a household which has not lost somebody as a direct consequence of the war. Insecurity has become endemic in the two districts, where survival is a daily struggle and the structural violence of poverty is a strong silent enemy. The majority of people in Acholi land have suffered constant abductions, and over 90% of people are currently displaced in Gulu and Kitgum towns and approximately 30 'protected villages'. In Gulu district there is no longer a single secondary school operating outside Gulu town. The cumulative impact of loss of education, health and economic opportunities is increased poverty and a high incidence of outbreaks of preventable diseases. This has helped to fuel the long-running conflict, generating high levels of lawlessness which affect everyone and add to the overall suspicion, loss of trust and confidence, and so have divided people further. Similar insecurity is increasingly affecting other parts of Uganda as well.

In both the research projects and workshops, the factors and players that caused the war at the beginning were found to be different from those maintaining/lengthening.

The studies reveal that the root causes of the prolonged-armed conflict involve a combination of political, military, economic and historical factors. These have been well summarised in the declaration of the Bedo Piny meeting. It is clear from the researches and peace fora that the conflict involves a wide range of players who, apart from the local, also include national, regional and international ones (See Figure 1). They also reveal that the conflict's continuation is furthered by, among other things, the manipulation of opinion by the media and people with vested interests in the war, and the involvement of some foreign powers, all of which increases inter-group tensions.

Turning from what has emerged from researches and peace fora, I would like briefly to highlight lessons which we have learned from working as an NGO in northern Uganda. Since 1979, when ACORD first started working there, we have had a wide range of programmes which sought to address some of the impacts of conflict.

The initial intervention focused on supporting the rehabilitation of physical infrastructure, but most of this work was destroyed during the armed conflict which began in 1986. After critical reflection, ACORD began to support initiatives aimed at helping people survive, recover and cope with the rapidly changing situations. Types of support included;

• assisting people to meet basic human needs (food, clothing, tools);

• promoting self-reliance, participatory development and capacity building through provision of relevant skills required to enable the participating communities to undertake sustainable agriculture, income generating activities, effective group and community project management, conflict management and reconciliation.

It is hoped such support to institutions can later foster development and reconciliation activities if security conditions improve. A specific example is work we have done with the traditional authorities, the Rwodi Moo, to strengthen them in conducting reconciliation processes between clans and settlement of disputes between communities. This has included sharing with them the results of the participatory research projects, upgrading their counselling skills and facilitating the successful re-integration of returning refugees, displacees and abductees. Video documentation is being used to assist networking, sharing of traditional values and learning, and increasing understanding of the impacts of conflict and the need for peace.

To facilitate the process of peaceful re-integration and reconciliation of victims and/or returnees, we have this year set up a micro-finance project, targeting adults who have been abducted and subsequently released or escaped, as well as female victims of rape, torture and other injuries who are widows, single mothers or have been rejected by their husbands. The programme provides counselling services to assist victims to overcome trauma caused by their experiences. This is followed with financial support for viable income generating projects and, where necessary, by helping rape victims to access medical treatment. Other activities target the wider community to minimise negative attitudes towards the former abductees and rape victims.

It can be seen that through the various programmes described above, ACORD has at different times addressed in a small way some of the key areas identified as necessary for sustainable peace at a local level: economic development, community participation and community relations. However, some of the other key areas, including political development, equity and justice, resource management and security, have not been adequately addressed. As the research findings and peace fora indicate, to do so requires us also to look beyond the local level and to analyse more critically the dynamics at national, regional and international level. Sharing our research work and our involvement in peace fora at all three levels, including this meeting, are concrete steps towards broadening our focus.

In conclusion, our own experiences as an NGO working in the field, coupled with what has emerged from our researches and involvement in peace fora, clearly demonstrate the need to understand the conflict as being multi-level. It involves local, national, regional and international players who have a variety of interests which change over time (Figure 1). At each level and between the different levels there are multiple stakeholders, issues and relationships to be addressed. A durable solution can only be reached if key actors and issues at all these levels, and the connections between them, are adequately identified and addressed. Neither conflicts nor their solutions can be compartmentalised.

1. At a local level in the conflict affected areas themselves peace building through development oriented activities should be supported and nurtured by international donors and others. Reconciliation and reintegration should also be fostered.

2. At country level, there is a need to cultivate a culture of tolerance that can help to understand and defuse conditions that give rise to uprising armed rebellions. This should include facilitating research and peace fora, which allow a process of concrete analysis and deeper understanding of on-going armed conflicts, their dynamics, and the interests of the different actors involved.

3. At the international level there is a need to build on initiatives such as Kacoke Madit in bringing together local, national and international actors in ways which recognise the different contributions which each can bring in the search for solutions to ongoing conflict. The complementary and beneficial interaction and liaison between local and international initiatives should be identified and collaboration encouraged.