Researchers call for home-grown solutions to conflicts

Participants at a conference on conflict resolution in Kigali, yesterday, stressed the need for home-grown responses, seen as central to conflict resolution in Africa.The themes of discussion included justice and reconciliation, conflict transformation, restoring community and national unity and structural conflict and transformation.The participants stressed the importance of forgiveness in achieving reconciliation and co-existence in society. “Forgiveness is personal and aids repair of not only interpersonal but intra-personal relationships as it fosters healing, personal freedom, and the lifting of heavy burdens from the heart,” said Julaina A. Obika, a lecturer and researcher at the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies, Gulu University in northern Uganda.Emmanuel Mushimiyimana, a researcher from Rwanda, noted that peace has eluded eastern DR Congo largely because the root cause has not been addressed yet it could be found through home-grown solutions.According to Mushimiyimana, facts show that the conflict in DR Congo is about protracted ethnic hatred, land cases, special geostrategic and geopolitical situation- abundance of minerals and geographical location. The participants also illustrated that forgiveness is important in conflict resolution.The 5th NUR International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) aims at opening an opportunity for collaborative dialogue between universities, research and administrative institutions, in the quest for peace and security. Participants were drawn from universities, research and administrative institutions, civil society groups, regional and international bodies, as well as UN Agencies.CCM explores the view that by owning home-grown responses and expanding them, it makes it possible to achieve a high level of stability and security.

National

Researchers call for home-grown solutions to conflicts