Explain culture of peace
Peace is the absence of violence, presence of justice and harmony with the environment.
Inner peace is a state of mind, body and perhaps soul. It is a peace within us. Yet another view of peace is
one which subdivides it into “negative peace” and “positive peace”. In this definition, peace is the absence
of “direct violence” and “structural violence.” The following diagram explains the meanings of the above
terms.
Describe methods of promoting peace
Methods of Promoting Peace
There are various methods by which peace may be promoted and brought about.
The methods vary depending on the level at which peace should be promoted.
Peace may be among individual persons, married couples, families, small communities, ethnic
groups, nations or regions.
Peace is also required at the global level.
Peace is very central and important to human affairs and development. Without peace,
development suffers. Peace is a basic requirement of development.
The following are some of the methods of promoting peace:
Intermarriages – among people of different ethnic groupings, intermarriages are a good method for
promoting peace. Some chiefs in the past used to „send‟ some of their subjects or children to go and marry
into a foreign tribe as a means of forging friendship.
Friendship
Making friends with people secures peace and there are different degrees of friendship which could
be created among people of different locations or origins.
Among some ethnic groups, a deliberate process of exchanging human blood in a ritual is
conducted. This is called sikwamanyinga in Lozi. This act of friendship- making is so strong that
peace among such people is guaranteed forever.
Reciprocity
This is a process where two or more different people exchange gifts or favours in a mutual manner.
When one person gets a gift, he/she gives something back in appreciation.
Mutual Aid
This type of creating peace involves exchanging help, assistance or aid in time of problems.
When one person or groups of people are experiencing problems, the other people come in to give
help.
At some other time, the person or people who gave help may themselves experience problems, at
which time they may be assisted by the person or people who were assisted last time. In this regard,
the assistance is being mutually exchanged or interchanged.
Forgiveness
When somebody has committed an offence and people become kind enough to forgive such a
person, peace can be generated.
But often, a pre-requisite to forgiveness is apology and humility on the part of the offender.
Tolerance
This refers to a way of living with and accepting different or opposing viewpoints.
This process often creates peace because people expressing different viewpoints are assured of
being accepted and not condemned or punished.
Respect
This is very fundamental. It involves respecting other people‟s cultures, opinions, ideas, beliefs,
religions, languages and human nature in general. African cultures emphasize respect
Justice
This refers to being fair and not being segregative in the manner we relate to other people. In this
way, complaints which could lead to conflicts may be reduced.
Analyse causes of conflict
Causes of Conflict
It is very important for you to understand societies in conflict before you begin to prevent their conflicts.
That is to say, if you want to understand conflicts you must first study the histories of the people in conflict.
We also need to know that violent conflicts have taken place in all continents, not only in Africa as it is
portrayed in the media, especially on television, radio and in newspapers. Some causes of conflicts are:
History
Research has revealed that historical reasons have contributed to emergency of conflicts in many parts
of the world.
The conflicts between Christian and Moslems in many parts of the Middle East have something to do
with long standing animosities and mistrust dating back to the first millennium AD.
It is also true that the interpretation of history may initiate a conflict between people as is the case in
Rwanda and Burundi in the Lake Region of East Africa.
The reasons for the unresolved conflict between the Lunda and Luvale in Zambia have something to do
with their histories and how they are interpreted today.
Ethnicity
Deep feelings against a group of people that do not belong to your own ethnic group can ignite deep
frustration that can initiate conflicts between two ethnic groups.
Normally, this happens where large groups are excluded from political and economic life on regional,
ethnic or social reasons.
Examples of these conflicts, illustrated by successional conflicts, come from Nigeria where between
1967 – 1970 Biafra, a province dominated by the Ibo ethnic group temporarily broke off from the
country.
They accused the Federal Government of Nigeria for excluding and discriminating against the Ibo
people. Katanga (Shaba Province) region temporarily broke off from the Congo (DRC) immediately
after political independence in 1960 for the same ethnic reasons.
Imbalance of natural resource
In the last 40 years population has increased very fast in many parts of the world.
The increased population has put too much pressure on natural resources.
It has threatened the economic survival of many local people. Such a situation has created opportunities
for conflicts as local people fight for the scarce resources available.
Burundi and Rwanda are good examples of countries where imbalance in the natural resources has
created violent conflicts.
Immigration
In a region where there is high population against few resources, massive foreign immigration breeds
resentments by the host people.
In most cases, such a situation leads to political violence. Examples are found in Central and Western
Cote d‟voire (Ivory Coast) where an influx of immigrants has initiated serious xenophobic conflicts.
Economic and export resources
Conflicts are often aimed at controlling or completely taking over economic and export resources
especially in border regions.
Boarder states sometimes fight over a piece of land that is suspected to have (or has confirmed) rich
deposits of minerals. Such interstate conflicts have been recorded in many parts of Africa. For example:
Chad-Libya conflict over the Aouzou Strip in 1973 – 94; Cameroon – Nigeria conflict over the Bakassi
Island until 2004; Mali – Burkina conflict in 1986 and the Ethiopia – Eritrea conflict in 2001.
Mismanagement of Economic Resources
Conflicts are also started by groups of people in countries where there is poor governance, corruption
and widespread poverty.
In such countries people know that national resources are mismanaged and such realization triggers
serious resentment and political instability leading to conflicts. This is worse where a small minority
controls the state.
Refugees
As a result of many conflicts in Africa, the population of refugees is also increasing.
Large numbers of refugees increase pressure on local resources of host communities. Sometimes,
refugees use these areas as springboards for attacking their government forces.
This result into the invasion of foreign troops into the host communities and, in so doing, initiating
border incidents and fighting.
For example, the border incidents that were experienced between Zambia and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
and between Angola (especially during the period of UNITA) and Zambia.
Poverty, illiteracy and unemployment
In many Third World Countries poverty and inequality in accessing goods and services increase
tensions that lead to conflicts in urban areas.
It is in the urban areas where there are thousands or millions of the unemployed poor people, also
known as the Lumpen Proletariat (in Zambia commonly called Kaponya) who are usually easy targets
for war recruiters and political extremists.
Injustice
Wherever there is injustice peace will never prevail.
This is because injustice, which manifests itself in many ways, is the source of anger, frustration and
resentment to the existing government.
Wars of independence were fought in many parts of the world against the governments that did not
practice justice.
Civil wars are civil conflicts that are caused by unjust practice of the existing governments.
Discuss effects of conflict on society
Impact of Conflicts in Africa
Although some people have different opinions on them, conflicts in whatever form are predominantly
negative to the people. The following are some of the negative impacts of conflicts:
Negative Impacts:
Conflicts lead to killing of many innocent people especially children, women, the disabled and old
people. Apart from dying, women are also sexually harassed during conflicts. In the end conflicts bring
frightening human suffering.
Conflicts force people to run away from their homes to take refuge in areas where there is no war. This
can be either within the country, as internal displacement, or outside the country as refugees. This
means that conflicts uproot people from their local area to new areas. Africa has at least 350 million
refugees running away from various conflicts in their countries. Zambia has a share of these refugees in
Meheba in North-Western province, Mayukwayukwa in Western province, Ukwimi in Eastern province
and other parts of Northern and Copperbelt provinces.
Where conflicts take place, the infrastructure is badly damaged. These include bridges, buildings,
airports, seaports, telecommunications and railway lines. Examples are found in Southern Sudan, Chad,
DRC, Angola and Mozambique where wars have extensively destroyed parts of these countries. The
railway line from the Copperbelt of Zambia to the Seaport of Benguela in Angola is not in use today
because it was destroyed during the Angolan wars of independence.
The economy of any country in conflict is negatively affected. Agriculture and trade decline as a result
of conflicts. People find it difficult to go to their farms to cultivate and if there are crops to sell they find
it difficult to transport their produce to the markets.
During the period of conflict, public expenditure is predominantly for military effort. Such expenditure
normally increases the national debt as the country borrows for the war effort. Insecurity stops investors
from establishing industries in the countries experiencing conflict.
By nature, civil conflicts or conventional wars destroy the environment. There is environmental
degradation in places of war in Africa and elsewhere.
Conflicts increase risky sexual behaviour of the people on the run and the combatants. Conflicts make
the situation worse as they prevent activities to intervene in epidemics, leading to total collapse of
health systems.
Conflict weakens governance institutions; Countries that have been through armed or civil conflicts
experience a breakdown or collapse of its social and political institutions, policy-making processes, and
communication channels of the state. In such cases, the government becomes ineffective and unable to
provide public goods and services such as Somalia (failed State).
Disruption of health services and food supplies; this is one of the most immediate effects of armed
conflict. It is asserted that during wars farmers become very fearful of working on the fields too far
from their homes. Similarly, since health facilities remain open they are so vulnerable to looting and
some are forced to close down. This disruption in most cases affects the women and children more than
men and adults
Disruption of educational services; in armed conflicts, not even schools are spared from attacks. In
rural parts of our continent a school may be the only substantial permanent structure, making it highly
susceptible to shelling, closure and looting. Others have argued that teachers are in most cases prime
targets because they are important community members or hold strong political views.
Emergency of Child Soldiers; children as young as 8 years are forcibly recruited, coerced and induced
to become combatants. This conscription leads to children participating in armed conflicts as active
soldiers. They are also used in support functions such as cooks, messengers and spies. Others, mainly
girls, are forced to provide sexual services. From support roles, the children sooner than later would
become placed in the battlefront and as some commentators have argued, due to lack of training, they
have become vulnerable.
Refugee In-flows; associated with armed conflicts is the refugee situation the in-flow of refugees
creates burdens and grievances in neighbouring countries and the possibilities of spill-over conflicts.
Positive effects of Conflicts:
Although conflicts are generally negative to the well-being of societies, they are also beneficial to a number
of people. The following are benefits of conflicts:
When one group captures the territory of the enemy, the resources such as minerals, timber, agriculture
and land are plundered by the group that has captured the resources. The UNITA group in Angola
gained economically from the conflict by exploiting diamonds for export to support the conflict. The
same was true of the military group RUF in Sierra Leone. Most of the minerals in the eastern part of
Congo DRC bordering Uganda and Rwanda are controlled and exploited by foreign armies in control of
the territory.
Conflicts require arms (guns), ammunitions, uniforms, boots, food and military hardware like tanks and
planes. The companies producing these materials supply them at a cost to the groups fighting each
other. In that way, the suppliers of military materials gain economically from conflicts.
Many conflicts have resulted in one group being defeated. Such a defeat leads to territorial expansion
by the victors in the conflict. For example, Israeli‟s territorial expansion into Syria after defeating it in a
short but decisive 1973 Golan Heights war. The same was true in the 1967 Israeli – Egypt war that led
to the capture and occupation of the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli.
If the conflict involves more groups or nations, alliances are formed in order to defeat the other side.
Such alliances created unity among the alliance members In the DRC-Rwanda conflict, many countries
joined the conflict and, hence, creating two alliances: those against DRC such as Uganda, Burundi and
Rwanda and those supporting Congo DRC such as Libya, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Such
alliances have cemented political unity.
Those who work hard to bring peace in the regions of conflicts also benefit from the conflicts. They
send peace-making teams to end the conflicts and also where necessary send peace-keeping troops to
enhance a peaceful atmosphere in the conflict zones. The international community provided much funds
to Zambia to bring about peace in DRC. The funds were used for co-ordination in the processes of
negotiation, reconciliation and arbitration. Zambia was also given funds to cater for the thousands of
refugees who settled in the country from the conflict zones.
Describe conflict resolution strategies
Methods of Resolving Conflicts
Conflict resolution is the settlement or avoidance of disputes between individuals or groups through
solutions that avoid violence and attempt to re-unite and re-harmonise the people in conflict. Conflict
resolution is also a means to maintaining peace, which in turn enables society to develop itself. Different
methods have been tried at the same time to resolve conflicts. Conflict resolution methods should aim at
addressing the main causes of the conflict. The following are not the only conflict handling skills people
use. Some may apply to one conflict, others may not.
Counselling
This method is used normally in individual situations. The counsellor is someone trusted by both
parties. He or she explores and assesses the problem. After that the counsellor applies an appropriate
intervention to solve the problem. This helps to relieve the conflict and the individuals change their
behaviours positively. Counselling is good for interpersonal (between persons) conflicts.
Negotiation
This is a process conducted by a reliable and skilled negotiator directly between the disputing parties.
The dispute can only be resolved if the parties or groups concerned reach a mutually acceptable solution
that can be implemented. The negotiations that led to peace between the Sudanese government and the
Garang‟s Liberation Movement in Southern Sudan is a good example of negotiation.
Mediation
This is a method of conflict-handling by a neutral third party acceptable to the disputing parties or
groups to arrive at an acceptable solution generated by the parties or groups themselves. This method
aims at balancing the two sides and drawing them closer to each other by accommodating each other‟s
views before reaching a resolution. The mediator is accepted by both sides. The mediation that went on
to try and solve the Lunda-Luvale conflict in Zambia is a good example.
Arbitration
This is a conflict-handling skill undertaken by an arbitrator who is appointed by the disputing parties or
groups to resolve their differences. The arbitrator listens to the parties and afterwards provides a
decision which is binding to the parties affected. Such a decision is normally provided in writing. The
implementation depends on both parties accepting the final decision.
Litigation:
This is one of the conflict resolution methods that allow the parties concerned to proceed to the public
courts of law. Through legal representation, they resolve their difference by applying the laws of the
country. In this method of resolving conflicts, a judge is empowered to make and implement decisions.
Sometimes, disputes or conflicts between countries are taken to the International Court of Justice in The
Hague to be resolved.
