Pag

e1

INTRACTABLE CONFLICT THERAPY MATRIX AN INTEGRATED SOLUTION TO THE GROWING GAP IN SETTLING COMPLEX, COMPLICATED,

INTRACTABLE CONFLICTS

Maiwa’azi Dandaura Samu: Strategy & Research Consultant – Conflict, Security, Intelligence &

Strategic Peacebuilding

Justice and Human Security Initiatives, JUHSI

NOVA Southeastern University, Florida, USA

www.Juhsinitiatives.com; Juhsinitiatives@gmail.com Juhsinitiatives@yahoo.co.uk

JUSTICE AND HUMAN SECURITY INITIATIVES (JUHSI) BEST PRACTICES

To achieve justice and human security for all conflict stakeholders through the

peacebuilding processes, the above stages of the JUHSI best practices matrix could be engaged.

Peacebuilding must not only realize cessation of hostilities, but satisfy all parties in the areas of

Pag

e2

justice, trauma healing, socio-economic restoration, political processes improvement and good

governance.

Step by step, the phases suggested in the matrix could lead to a gradual attrition on the

conflict issues, till the situation is made more intervention friendly, and conflict parties become

settlement or negotiation-friendly.

SUSTAINABILITY

The secret of successful transformation of a difficult conflict is sustained, lasting, positive

action. Where peacebuilding action is fluctuating and inconsistent, signals of weakness,

unwillingness and disinterest, are transmitted to parties, therefore breaking their confidence, and

commitment to the process, and preparedness for reconciliation. The key to success in treating

complex, multifaceted, and intractable conflict is appropriate, sustainable, repetitive, tireless,

staying-on peacebuilding action. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions necessary for

all peacebuilding professionals to uphold the work of enabling conflict parties to insist on

finishing all negotiation or arrangement for peace, and coexist in productive harmony. This will

certify the fulfilling of each party’s social, economic and other basic requirements for both their

present and future generations. Complex, multifaceted, and intractable conflict emit unintended

social, environmental, and economic consequences that impede economic growth and

development, and destroy the community’s natural resources. It is the repetition of necessary

actions, and persistent tenacity with the peacebuilding processes, that answer to the nature of

complex, multifaceted, and intractable conflicts. Tough conditions require repetition of

appropriate tough peacebuilding action, till desired results begin to show. Weakness and

discouragement of the engaged peace facilitators in the face of tough conflicts, prove to usually

worsen such conflicts more than heal the situation. Withdrawal from processes causes all kinds of

dangerous interpretations by the conflict parties that force them to take pre-emptive actions to

protect themselves from the blowback of a failed talk, mediation or negotiation process.

DEFINITIONS

Blowback: Is those unintended consequences, unforeseen, and unwanted effect, result, or set of

repercussions from both the overt, and covert peacebuilding shuttle operations, and direct

negotiations that are suffered by the parties when peace facilitators carelessly pull back

because of the difficulty experienced in settling a complex, multifaceted, and intractable

conflict.

Complex: An intricately inter-related group of emotionally significant conflicts, conflict

ideologies,

and intertwined parties that are completely or partly repressed, uncooperative, overt,

unreasonably violent, and hold non-negotiable positions or interests. Such interests cause

psychic conflicts that lead to abnormal mental states or behaviour, the Boko Haram

terrorist conflict of Nigeria is a good example.

Demobilization: Is the process of standing down rebel or a nation's armed forces from combat-

ready status after the violent phase of a conflict has been addressed successfully. This may

also be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved, and

military force will not be necessary. To allow for unmolested negotiation, the Army’s role

is deemphasized so as not to intimidate the other party and stall peacebuilding efforts,

especially where the other party in conflict is the government.

Frameworks: An indispensable supporting structure of a conflict intervention, management,

Pag

e3

prevention, and treatment theory design, which will serves as the vehicle to make meaning,

understand, resolve or transform the conflict.

Indigenous: A conflict management system originating or occurring naturally in a particular local

area.

Infusion: The introduction of a new element or quality into the conflict thorn community such as

heavy business investment, starting new or rebuilding of schools, sporting activities,

community integrative healing programs, introduction of new interest based activities.

Integrated: To unify different peacebuilding approaches so as to gain the impact of synergistic

activities. This ties together all peacebuilding efforts, by bringing individual parts into a

seamlessly whole.

Interdisciplinary: This is a cross-curricular peacebuilding that involves conscious efforts to apply

knowledge, principles, and/or values, from more than one academic discipline to a specific

conflict intervention and peacebuilding process.

Intractable: An unpredictably hard to control conflict. The conflict, and one or more party in

conflict can be said to be a stubborn, obstinate, obdurate, inflexible, headstrong, willful,

unbending, unyielding, uncompromising, unaccommodating, uncooperative, difficult,

awkward, perverse, contrary, and stiff-necked.

Conflict Management: Conflict management is the adoption and operationalization of wide

range, but jointly adopted policies by all conflict parties to keep the conflict from

hostilities and violence, where negotiating a substantive end of the situation seems

impossible presently. It is a single moment in time within the life cycle of the conflict;

which is the “attempt to contain, limit, or direct the effects of an ongoing conflict” (Cordell

& Wolff, 2013). Therefore, conflict management is best when the situation is impossible to

settle conclusively, or undesirable for one of the parties since they may have nothing to

lose if settlement is not reached.

Narrative: This is the spoken or written account of connected events, story, account, chronicle,

history, description, record, report told by each party in conflict as their way of making

meaning of the conflict, its origin, causes, results and possibilities.

Outcome: A conclusion reached on a conflict situation through a process of logical thinking, or an

end product or end result, consequence of a conflict settlement and implementation of

peacebuilding agreement processes.

Palliative: Treatment given to relieve present conflict pain, or alleviating a particular problem

without necessarily dealing with the underlying causes. This allows parties to settle down

to address the root causes without the consciousness of the stress of present injuries, which

could hinder concentration on any form of settlement, communication, management,

prevention or resolution of the conflict.

Peacekeeping: this is the active maintenance of a ceasefire and peace between conflict parties,

especially by an international military force or the nation’s army. However, if there is no

peace agreement, there cannot be any peace to keep; instead the requirement is to make the

peace.

Peacemaking: The process of creating a peace agreement and situation between conflict parties.

This involves practical conflict alteration efforts focused on establishing equitable power

relationships strong enough to forestall future conflict, often including the establishment of

means of agreeing on ethical decisions within a community, or among parties, that had

previously engaged in inappropriate responses to conflict such as violence. Peacemaking

seeks to achieve reconciliation among adversaries and forge new mutual understanding

Pag

e4

among parties and stakeholders in conflict. Military means may be employed to confront

violent parties, and subdue their hostilities, forcing them to the negotiation table.

Prevention: Conflict prevention requires the adoption of a set of policies, actions, procedures or

institutions at the early stage or immediately following the settlement/ceasefire of a

conflict. This includes the use of peacekeepers and the work of peacebuilding who

operationalize prevention policies or a peacebuilding intervention plan. These activities

are difficult where there are existing violent hostilities. However, when implemented early,

they can keep conflicts that are not yet violent from becoming violent. Short term crisis

management which falls under prevention aims at averting an imminent escalation in

violence and long term structural prevention aims at eliminating the root causes of conflict.

So, prevention has its place in the total life cycle of the conflict in arresting violence

before, or after its settlement to maintain the peace created so as to prevent further violent

occurrences or escalations. Violent hostilities will require an active intervention to quail

hostilities.

Provention: The use of structures, systems, and programs to create peace, and craft

equilibrium in community relations, treating early warning signs of conflict, and managing

attitudes and behaviours of society to keep communities sustainably sane, so as to prevent

outbreak of conflict, hostilities, and violence.

Psychosocial: Pertaining to the wellbeing of the mind and social relations, this includes the

interrelation of social factors and individual thought, and behaviour.

Resolution: Conflict resolution, or settlement, aims at establishing institutional frameworks

where the opposing interests of the different groups can be accommodated to such an

extent that incentivites cooperation, and the pull to a non-violent pursuit of conflict

interests; so that benefits of compromise outweigh any benefits that may be expected from

violent confrontation.

Shuttle: Consultations steered by a facilitator who works between two or more parties that are

reluctant to hold direct dialogues.

Therapy: Treatment for problems where conflict professionals and conflict parties work

together to understand problems, and come up with plans for transform them; this helps to

resolve problematic behaviours, beliefs, aggression, and hostilities.

Theoretical: Is the creation of an untested, suppositional, speculative, general, postulatory, what-

if, assumed, presumed, unsubstantiated theory on the treatment, management or prevention

of a conflict situation rather than its practical application.

INTRODUCTION

Conflict intervention knowledge and skills are strategically advancing, at the same time,

paradoxically, settling conflict is becoming more complex, intractable, and perplexing.

Connecting the knowledge and skills advancement with conflict settlement ingenuity that is

needed to effectively heal all parties has become a thing of critical importance and of great

demand.

All kinds of frameworks have been used to eradicate communicable diseases around the

world using well-structured frameworks. What helped health administrators achieve this feat?

How can their enterprise be used to similarly eradicate complex, intractable conflict?

This growing gap requires new approaches to conflict therapy and care, no matter the

cultural background, and technologies available to the conflict parties. Eminent and more effective

theoretical and pragmatic techniques of addressing the gap, and challenge must be created to save

Pag

e5

the lives that are being lost daily to intractable conflicts, whose settlement are becoming super

complex by the hour. Aggressive methods of changing the face of conflict around the globe must

be unearthed through collaborative multidisciplinary work, and idea exchanges between far

removed conflict professionals around the world, to share best practices and experimental,

quantifiable or scientific, and proven pathways used successfully in each professional’s locality.

This will allow professionals tap into the ever growing knowledge-base of field staff innovating

local schemes, and models, for conflict settlement, care and therapy, no matter the location of the

conflict on the globe. Connectivity and networking can be a major key to breaking the jinx of

intractability. Professionals must not only improve knowledge, and skill but accessibility of such

successful emergent skills must be available to practitioners all around the globe. Ready access

and applicability is as important as skill creation itself. Most remote parts of the world with less

internet access suffer from experimented care approach knowledge, and so maintain the use of old

antiquated methods in conflict therapy that have not proved too helpful. Conflicts are evolving

daily due to globalization, and complexalization of the human mind, and its capacity for

situational interpretive ingenuity which leads to all kinds of complexification of conflicts. The

above matrix was therefore developed to support professionals in such disadvantaged locations, to

have hands-on, ready-made comprehensive schemes to conflict analysis, management, provention,

and transformation learning from the health field’s approach for eradicating infectious diseases.

Whether intractable conflicts can ever be eradicated is yet to be seen, but is left to the imagination,

but we must never despair, but keep doing what needs to be done, to advance the peace of nations,

and the security of humanity.

STEP 1. EARLY WARNING SIGNS & INTEGRATED INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION

Early warning signs detection, management, and support lead to effective policies and

intervention plans. A mix of all forms and levels of intelligence from all the intelligence agencies

– community informants, Police, Military intelligence, and other intelligence agencies etc. will be

required for integrated analysis, and policy formulation and intervention design. No analysis,

conflict intervention design, and policies formulation should be engaged without a thorough

conflict investigation. Accurate information must supply the basis for interpretation and decision

making for any conflict to keep a soft conflict from becoming hardened. Bad intelligence work

lead to severe consequences and loss from all parties in the conflict. Due to flawed or poor

information availability, intervention design is either delayed or poorly made and policies are

confusing, or fragmented. Policies shouldn’t be quickly made on a conflict without thorough

professional investigation. Investigation is a neutral collection of data by official uninvolved

intelligence or conflict officers, which is different from conflict analysis, and needs assessment,

conducted by peace facilitators with the parties in conflict. It supports the system to discover what

is happening without allowing any side to sway choices and decisions of the authorities

responsible to addressing the conflict. Ignoring early warning signs makes interveners lose the

best opportunity to address the conflict. Poor research leads to poor choices, decisions and

policies. Poor policies lead to hardening of conflicts and conflict party’s positions. Most resistant

conflicts are the products of fragmentary, poorly thought-out policies. An early warning

conflictmeter may be a very necessary scale to measure the temperature of a conflict at different

stages and phases. Please read the Dandaurasamu (2016) Conflictmeter to be released.

Pag

e6

STEP 2. CONFLICT ANALYSIS/NEEDS ASSESSMENT

This is the assessment of needs, motives, means, and opportunities available to conflict

parties, and the measurement of the levels of structural/systemic provocation on the conflict flash

point communities; multi tool framework analysis to determine why actors act the way they do,

and the development of short term responses. Creating effective peacebuilding activities,

platforms, or policies involve deep evaluation and interpretation of the conflict origin and context,

the conflict needs on the ground, and the locally existing capacity to address the conflict

dynamics. Inadequate assessment may be more time wasting and result in resource loss, than long

assessment work known as ‘analysis-paralysis.’ There are too many wasteful and ineffective

programs, due to inadequate conflict assessment and theoretical analysis. More damage is done to

many conflicts where there is little or no conflict assessment than is done by spending too much

time in conflict analysis. Ignorance of the perceptions of diverse stakeholders and the complex

dynamics of the context, severely limits the amount of impact that can come from peacebuilding

frameworks; and risk possible negative impacts of peacebuilding efforts that unintentionally create

new problems or divisions. There are different exercises engaged in conflict analysis according to

the timeframe and context of the assessment. All conflict assessment processes, face time, and

resource constraints; and practitioners will need to prioritize how to best gather data for an

adequate assessment in accordance with the type of conflict at hand. Conflicts that are poorly

assessed, and equally badly addressed, can become resistant to future intervention, or risk being

transformed into complex, intractable, and perplexing problems. A good assessment helps to take

the conflict apart, detangling the intricacies and allow a sneak preview of possible entry points, to

dismantling the conflict’s internal organs and arrangements.

STEP 3. PALLIATIVE CARE/MILITARY MEASURES & PEACEMAKING

This is the implementation of short term responses, and development of conflict

prevention, and healing structures, and systems. Building confidence, and security measures with

military support to keep the conflict parties apart, as efforts are being made to address the main

issues in the conflict. Military engagement must be made with precise prescription, and control, so

as to avoid aggravating issues. Uncontrolled military involvement in citizen conflicts like ethnic,

religious or metropolitan conflicts always leaves behind sour taste for the people than is desired,

and also hold the risk of making simple conflicts complex and complicated due to poor troop

welfare, and the excesses of soldiers, and their lack of discipline that normally leads to many

moral issues. Effective military measures could include preventive peacekeeping forces, not an

attack or occupying force. It should also include the restructuring and integration of the different

branches of security forces, this combined force must be professionalized to meet the needs of the

conflict. Thereafter there should be an intentional reformation of the armed forces, demobilization,

and reintegration of armed forces back to their regular branches. This should also be intentionally

engaged to provide for them trauma support, address conflict indiscipline hang-over, and reduce the

threat of projection of force on civilian communities, and provision of military social aid.

Palliative programs must also necessarily include military-to-military program care, alternative

defence strategies, confidence-building, and joint public-military security measures at the conflict

epicentre. Conflict party non-aggression agreements, collective security or cooperation

arrangements, deterrence of misbehaviours, disarmament of all other actors, arms control

agreements, arms proliferation control, and crisis management procedures must also be well

worked out and developed.

Pag

e7

STEP 4. CREATION OF THEORETICAL MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORKS &

THEORETICAL MANAGEMENT

Creating appropriate theories will support the effective management of the conflict, and

build capacity for settlement. Conflicts should always be approached with appropriate locally

contextualized theoretical analytical, and management frameworks, to both understand the

conflict, and design management approaches from the identified root causes, proximate, and other

remote motivations. This makes settlement and management both accessible and implementable

by all parties. Theoretical frameworks identify locally applicable tools that may be effective for

each given circumstance, and devising and implementing multi-tooled, multi-track, local, place-

specific strategies to move the conflict flashpoint community toward sustainable peace. Conflicts

may have multiple bases, origins and causes, and may be at various phases of escalation or de-

escalation. To successfully engage and settle any conflict, the intervention design, and activities

must be theoretically based, which must be applicable or appropriate to the conflict’s origins and

the needs of the different phases or stages. Not finding and engaging the appropriate theoretically

approach to analysing, managing, resolving or preventing conflicts may lead to failed efforts that

encourage complications, and complexification of conflicts.

Analytical frameworks categorize and classify a range of independent and intervening

variables to account for the causes, and success, or failure of specific policies adopted to prevent,

manage, and transform conflicts. Theories help establish causal relationship between the

independent variables (complicated, complex, intractable conflict) and specific outcomes or

dependent variables (conflict and its prevention, management and resolution). Apart from the

theoretical analytical and management frameworks used for analysing, managing, resolving or

preventing conflicts, there are also the theories of change (TOC) used to determine the desired

change for the conflict situation, by prescribing the desired change activities and steps.

STEP 5. OFFICIAL PEACE DIPLOMACY (LOCAL & REGIONAL)

Contrary to the normal official practice of hiding bad happenings to protect the image of

the government, or keep the conflict situation from spreading, or to prevent reprisals; when

conflicts with potential local and regional impact are brewing, government and responsible offices

should inform those around the conflict area of the need to synergize against the emerging crisis or

violence. All local authorities must be briefed and carried along so that there will be a united effort

to address the situation. When Boko Haram was nurturing in Bauchi, Nigeria as a small cloud, it

was ignored, and the surrounding states were not forewarned immediately, so they moved to the

mountains of Yobe unchallenged and after they were smoked out of the mountains. They moved

to Maiduguri, and were given a royal welcome by the then state authority. There was a total lack

of local cooperation and sensitivity. If all the three states invaded were conscious of the potential

harms of the sect, and were united in their fight against them, and gave no room for them to grow

anywhere, the sect may have been contained at those early stages; and the monumental damages

experienced later could have been avoided. At the early stages of the sect’s build up, the following

scheme could have been used or engaged to squelch it, mediation, negotiations, conciliation, use

of good offices, informal consultations, peace conferences, unilateral good will gestures to the

sect, when it was yet to become hardened and intractable, establishment of conflict prevention or

management centres to manage the growing crisis step by step, local coercive diplomacy,

withdrawal of recognition to the sect, setting up of hot lines to report, and handle the dynamics of

the conflict as they were popping up. It would have been possible to have prevented the present

calamity Nigeria is going through with Boko Haram. The tools used in peace diplomacy are not

Pag

e8

tools that the military and security agents are trained to engage, so government must always

engage the right professionals to do preventive diplomacy in the nation on a permanent basis.

Round pegs must be put in round holes. However where round pegs are put in square holes only

allows for degeneration of conflicts that blow-back on the nation. Governments act like scrooges

concerning investment in peacebuilding, so they harvest conflict and violence. Peacebuilding

professionals are a vital resource for any nation that desires both stable internal and external

security. They must be engaged during peace time to work to provent development of conflicts.

Their work can include scanning the nation for emerging conflicts, conduct needs assessment,

peace research, development of theoretical tools, and frameworks, conflict prevention schemes,

peacebuilding training and skill development, etc. Waiting for things to degenerate before

professionals are drafted in is expensive, fatal or loss of lives, and a waste of resources. When

conflicts are compromised with, and left alone and leaders play the Ostrich by hiding their heads

in the sand, conflicts multiply, because of their profusion or preponderance, they come to

represent or be treated as the norm. Communities then become settled in conflict lifestyles,

resulting in generational conflict transference, and handover of conflict memories that are always

hard to eliminate.

STEP 6. SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY/INTEGRATED MEDIA CAMPAIGNS (winning hearts

& minds)

Most sects desire to win the hearts and minds of the public, so as to raise a state-wide or

national, general outcry, unrest, or revolt against the government and authority. Militant groups

hate authority, and desire anarchy; so they carry on their activities with the sole purpose of

mobilizing the people to rise up against the establishment. The more the public doesn’t seem to be

getting their message, to that level they inflict injuries on the people to force them out against

government or authority. Government will therefore be encouraged to initiate a strong campaign

to win the hearts and minds of the people against the violent group, educating the people on the

strategies, and motivations of the group. Government must also keep the people informed about

the changing dynamics of the conflict, what efforts are being made to address the problem and be

honest to give the areas of difficulties and successes. To achieve this, the tools that could be used

include, strategic media campaigns, mediation peace dialogs, peacebuilding journalism training,

support to indigenous dispute resolution and legal institutions, establishment of conflict resolution

or prevention centres, establishment of a peace commission and civilian peace monitors, non-

violent action campaigns and activities, facilitation/problem-solving workshops and humanitarian

diplomacy, visits by eminent persons, and organizations, to speak to the situation, who can also

counsel the militants, involvement of witnesses or emissaries who are friendly groups of the

militant group (such emissaries may also be militant groups from another location).

STEP 7. NARRATIVE NEGOTIATION/ NEEDS TREATMENT

Here trials and attempts are made to bring parties together for joint storytelling, and

consultations where the parties are still open to face to face meeting. Facilitators try to meet basic

needs as demanded by the conflict needs assessment, so as to ameliorate the settlement processes.

Needs met could contribute to de-escalation of conflict. Neglecting immediate needs lead to

hardening of position and deterioration of the conflict situation. Many conflicts have been settled

by mutual transformative narrative. Meaningful narratives need to select a series of events that are

organized into a plot. This selectivity in the context of the facts in conflict highlights each party’s

nature. Directionality is a narrative negotiation strategy. It makes the overall goal of the story the

Pag

e9

key factor in shaping the selective plot. Failure to understand the nature of parties has unwittingly

broken many attempts to settle intractable conflicts. Narrative negotiation should therefore be a

dialogical face to face encounter, a process by which all parties appreciate and mutually

incorporate elements of each other’s narrative, and give up parts of their own, arriving at a

supportive narrative equilibrium. Something happens when parties hear one another tell the

conflict story from their own side or perspective, connecting and making meaning of their

emotions, and feelings to the stories of the other party. They all understand why each side behaved

the way it behaved in conflict, what informed the behaviour, and what the behaviour was meant to

communicate. This has a way of making all sides see how each side’s story fits into the whole

story, and therefore the need to forgive and reconcile, since many wrong assumptions were made

by all parties, and may have complicated and complexified matters, and provoked unintended

reactions and consequences. A situation of give and take results, parties then may give up parts of

their narrative which adds to escalate emotions, and incorporate elements of the other’s into their

own, creating a greater meaning from all the facts in conflict, “bringing apparently incompatible

descriptions of events into narrative equilibrium” (Dwyer, 1999) and resulting in a negotiated

settlement. Most conflicts remain intractable because all sides have not adequately heard each

other’s narrative, and so, a lot of assumptions are used to prosecute the conflict. Poor information

availability, or misinformation, is the bane of most intractable conflicts. So, finding a way to give

all parties equal, and truthful information may help to de-escalate the conflict or at least improve

relationships.

STEP 8. INTEGRATED INTRA-GROUP AND INTERGROUP SHUTTLE MEDIATION

Intra-group conflicts must be quickly resolved to prevent truncating overall inter-group

settlement. Intra-group conflict can prevent general intergroup conflict settlement because the

inner group disagreements and behaviours may not allow the group to reach agreements within

itself that are necessary to enable agreements with other groups, or such intra-group

misunderstandings may slow general agreement processes down significantly. Shuttle mediation

may be necessary to repair internal relations, and bring the group to self-healing, and capacity to

speak with one voice necessary for intergroup settlements. Liberating groups from internal or

intra-group conflicts most times loosens up intractability. Most conflict intractability is a product

of deep intra-group conflict, and lack of capacity to agree within. Intragroup conflict may be due

to in-group power balance problems, and agreement on how to transact with the other parties in

conflict. There may be high degree/rate of fragmentation and lack of collective vision. When

groups remain closed and refuse to be appeased, it is because they don’t trust themselves within,

making it difficult to find a singular front to use in meeting with the other party. Boko Haram in

Nigeria is a good case in context. They have completely rejected all calls for dialogue because of

deep inner or intragroup fragmentation. Those who dared to differ and attempt to dialogue with

the government of Nigeria, met their sudden, untimely death, at the hands of their Boko Haram

comrades. So, the non-disclosure, and closed nature of a group to other parties in conflict, may

actually not be a sign of unity but division, a weakness not strength. The Boko Haram splinter

groups use the internal division or intra-group conflict to checkmate one another’s moves. This

prevents them from coming to the open, and negotiating with other parties external to them. The

question is, which of the splinter groups will represent them in any negotiations. They are trapped

in a ring of the fear for one another, not in the unwillingness to negotiate with the external parties.

Non-state actors may be best placed to help detangle such intra-group traps. In the Boko Haram

situation, people like General Mohammed Buhari who has been identified by one of the Boko

Pag

e10

Haram splinter group as an acceptable middle man for them, can initiate the work of discovering

the internal workings of the groups, and get at helping them out of the in-group fear trap of one

another, and bring them to the negotiation table with government.

STEP 9. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE/HYBRID INDIGENOUS CONFLICT

MANAGEMENT

To enable sustainable peace, all responsible parties to crime in any conflict should be

speedily prosecuted, and restoration of individuals, and community integrative power must be

made through appropriate forgiveness, restitutions, and restorations. When justice is delayed, the

people become bold in crime perpetration. So, early justice delivery will contribute to deescalating

any conflict. A hybrid between Restorative Justice and Indigenous Conflict Management systems,

are to be preferred, to the criminal justice system, in bringing crime perpetrators to justice and

responsibility for their crimes and harms. This system encourages forgiveness, reconciliation, and

restoration of the victim, perpetrator, the community and the State. All interests are catered for,

unlike the criminal justice system where the victim and community are ignored, and the State

assumes the position of the offended, and the perpetrator is seen as an object for punishment,

rather than made to pay reparation to the victim, and community. Justice should restore relations

at the individual and communal levels, and it should give benefits to the oppressed victim, or the

disadvantaged. The models used to reach justice are also very important to achieve satisfaction of

justice delivery. Most criminal or legal justice processes are always trained by complaints of

dissatisfaction by the victims, community, and offender. Processes where total strangers to the

conflict, harm, or crime in the positions of the State, judges and lawyers take centre stage in the

resolution of the conflict doesn’t support healing at the individual or community level, as opposed

to the victim centred resolution models found in the restorative or hybrid indigenous justice

systems. Intractable conflicts are made stubborn by their inefficiency or non-availability of space

to deal with issues of justice, or failure to bring perpetrators to responsibility for their actions, and

crime during conflict. No conflict should insulate or immunize anyone from being responsible for

his actions that caused harm. Impunity by any party must be matched with appropriate demand for

responsibility and justice.

Preliminary justice processes could begin with commissions of inquiry/war crimes tribunals,

Judicial and legal reforms necessary to support the present crisis, others may include police

reforms, arbitration, adjudication, and support to indigenous legal institutions.

STEP 10. INTERDISCIPLINARY/PSYCHOSOCIAL TRAUMA/SELF-CARE SUPPORT

Trauma is a wound or energy trapped in the body resulting from a single or series of

traumatic events that threaten the well-being of an individual or a group, and shakes his/their basic

beliefs about safety, predictability and trust. Trauma is shocking, painful or harmful. Stress is a

reaction to the less dramatic and often daily events such that are perceived as threatening, such as,

a job interview, deadlines, or worries related to the security situation, existing conflict, violence

and its complications. Trauma support should target restoring the victim back to some level of

normalcy of life, using all the support systems indigenous to the individual or community. Self-

care is the development of maintenance and repair mechanisms for oneself/community in the face

of traumatic, and stressful events. Psychosocial wellness takes into account an individual’s

emotional health, as well as his or her positive social connections, community resources,

environment, and coping resources. It also includes making sense of one’s life in the midst of

uncertainty and insecurity. Individuals and communities must be supported to find the capacity to

Pag

e11

restore themselves back to some kind of normalcy recognizable by the victims after traumatic

events. Traumatized communities add to the pressure on actors to escalate conflict. Many of the

young people who joined Boko Haram did so in reaction to the trauma they saw displayed in their

relatives, friends and environment. The restorative processes may require cross-curricular

peacebuilding that involves conscious efforts to apply knowledge, principles, and/or values, from

more than one academic discipline to the conflict intervention and peacebuilding processes.

Necessary interdisciplinary professionals must be engaged, and given space to participate in the

peace processes. Intractable conflicts are targeted to cause the gravest trauma to individuals and

communities; immediate trauma healing support will restore the people, and break the confidence

of the stubborn conflict party. Every terror group aims at inflicting high psychological injury on

the public, but where psychologists, trauma therapists, religious leaders etc. are engaged to help

the people feel restored to their ‘normalcy’ will disappoint the radical group, and force them to the

table of negotiation, since the public’s heart and mind will be working against the interests and

provocations of the perpetrators.

STEP 11. MEMORIES & COMMUNITY DAMAGE REPAIR AND RESTORATION OF

PHYSICAL STRUCTURES

Buildings, businesses, worship centres and structures destroyed during the conflict must be

repaired as soon as possible to close on sustenance of the memories of the conflict as expressed in

the physical damages. Socio-economic activities must also be intentionally stimulated.

Government must find ways to make resources available to the local people to power them, and

encourage spending. This can lead to de-escalation of conflicts. Nothing fuels the cycle of conflict,

and keeps hostilities alive forever, than the burnt properties and damaged structures that remind all

sides about their loses, or gains in a conflict. Memory has a deep respect, and support for conflict

intractability. This memory includes the death of leaders, loved ones, and family members that the

living fighter can’t seem to forget, and let life move forward. Memory says, there is no life

without the dead returning, and loses regained. To interrupt intractability, you must interrupt ‘war’

memory. Boko Haram can’t seem to get over the extra-judicious killing of their leader

Mohammed Yusuf, and many other sect members who were killed in cold blood by security

agents while under detention. Living members of Boko Haram seem to have vowed that the

memories of their dead can never be appeased, and they would kill forever to avenge their death.

If government can find a way to interrupt that memory, it will be able to end the intractability of

the conflict, and reach some resolution with the militants. Physical structures and system damages

are a sticky pain in war memories, and encourage all kinds of brutality by parties in conflict.

STEP 12. INDIVIDUAL/FAMILY SUPPORT

When bad things happen, sometimes, it takes time to get over the pain, and feel safe again.

With the right treatment, self-help strategies, and support from family and friends, one can speed

up recovery from emotional and psychological trauma. Whether the traumatic event happened

years ago or yesterday, individuals or the family can be supported to heal and move on. Such

support could include a home to live, school and fees for the children, food security, clothing, and

the feeling of safety. When families are comfortable, they may prevent their children from getting

involved in violence and conflicts. However, when they are hopeless, they see no need to live, so

don’t place value on their lives, therefore careless about protecting it. And easily throw it away.

Individuals, and families, make communities and nations; when they are neglected, communities

and nations fall apart.

Pag

e12

Family is the natural, and fundamental unit of society, and is entitled to protection

by society, and the state (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 16.3). There is a need also

to protect the individual rights of all family members. Recognition of the dignity and human rights

of all requires social inclusion in all conflict arrangements, and policy making. Families have a

stake in conflict settlement processes and must be empowered to participate actively in

formulating and accessing conflict settlement policies. Develop policies and support to families in

fragile situations, such as refugees, migrant families, internally displaced persons/families.

Provide appropriate support, with respect for various cultural and ethical values, for the variety of

family situations that exist as a result of the conflict. Facilitate the reconciliation of work and

family life by promoting gender equality inside the family and adequate changes in working

conditions, including the regulation and provision of incentives to the private sector to promote

family friendly working schedules for parents of young children. Develop effective ways and

means to support families with low income. Adopt and implement broad-based social protection

policies to mitigate and counteract all the sources of vulnerability such as chronic food shortages,

health problems, environmental damages and other external shocks, and align these social

protection policies to family policy on education, health, housing and food and nutrition security.

Encourage regional social policies, including cooperation on social protection issues, and promote

regional strategies for the implementation of a minimal social protection package. Promote the

rights to social security, health care and education.

STEP 13. COMMUNITY INVESTMENT, INFUSION THERAPY

To encourage the return to normalcy in the community, it is strongly recommended that

government and private investors infuse, and fill the conflict thorn community with new elements,

or life quality improvements such as business investments, build new, or rebuild old schools, new

sporting activities, community integrative healing programs, introduction of new interest based

activities, job creation, etc. Development assistance, economic reforms, resource cooperation,

Inter-communal trade, joint projects between conflict parties and communities, lasting health

assistance, agricultural programs, humanitarian assistance, reparations and repatriation or

resettlement of refugees, and displaced persons. Intractable conflicts are regarded intractable

because the damages done to human security, and the environment are never repaired, villages are

destroyed, and abandoned forever, and lives are shattered and never reclaimed. Intractability

represented by these features should be reversed, by doing exactly the opposite of the expectation

of the perpetrators, by reversing the damages done, one after the other. In this way, the

memorabilia, and archives of the conflict are wiped away, and some kind of normalcy is returned.

No destroyed village should be closed done, no damaged life should be allowed to rot, but all must

be reclaimed to shame the violators of rights and livelihoods.

STEP 14. MILITARY DEMOBILIZATION/PREVENTIVE DEPLOYMENT &

PEACEKEEPING

Many times than not, military peacekeeping turn into military occupation of the conflict

flashpoint community, even after peace agreements, or situations have been made. This can

become counter-productive. Such occupation then send blowback effects – such as rapes, civilian

molestation, human rights abuses, loss of capital and time due to unnecessary check points, and go

slows. Blowback effects represent an irritation, therefore military occupation becomes a

disturbance rather than a support, become for community balance and stability. So, demobilization

and military non-aggression arrangements therefore become necessary as soon as some level of

Pag

e13

peace has been achieved. This allows for un-coerced negotiation between conflict parties.

Collective security or cooperation arrangements between all parties could be evolved, that reduce

dependence on the military. Disarmament, arms control agreements, and arms proliferation control

must all be fully engaged. Crisis management activities may be necessary where pockets of

escalations happen, supported by limited military involvement, and peace agreement enforcement.

However, the military should never be abandoned in a civilian conflict area for ever. Three months

after the conflict has been quailed, and some sense of sanity has been restored, they must be

demobilized from the area, and peacebuilders take front role in engineering peace, and security,

together with other multidisciplinary professionals relevant for resuscitating community sanity and

normalcy. Combined security arrangement involving the police, and all parties must be constituted

to replace the army, to keep the peace. The military should only be invited periodically to support

the efforts of these professionals where need be. The risks of leaving the military on ground, long

after their usefulness is due, is that the people are conditioned never to feel normal, and secured

without soldiers. So, as soon as they are withdrawn, fights break out, because the people have not

been trained and conditioned to believe they can take charge of their peace and security.

STEP 15. ASSESSMENT OF CONFLICT STATUS/PARTY SATISFACTION

Most peace agreements are stalled due to party dissatisfaction with the implementation

processes of the peace deal. Periodically, then, it is necessary to evaluate the status of the conflict,

and the level of satisfaction of each party with the peacebuilding processes, and implementation of

the peace agreement. Where the processes are failing a party, there may be the need to adjust them

in conformity with the peace agreement, to satisfy all stakeholders, and prevent conflict escalation.

STEP 16. CONFLICT SCREENING/2ND OPINION ON OUTCOME

It is always good to bring in external conflict professionals to audit the conflict status, to

gain second opinion on the peacebuilding processes so far. This will give new insights, and catch

hidden corners, or other angles that the peacebuilders on ground have not seen, or become

conscious of, or have intentionally chosen to avoid for many covert reasons. Second opinion is

supportive to sustainability, and productive performance. The process should commence with the

peacebuilders giving a full report of efforts made so far and the perceived outcomes, challenges,

failures and possibilities identified to the screening group. This is not necessarily a monitoring and

evaluation process but simply peer review. The second stage will then be interviews and

examination of local conditions to establish success/failure capacity; followed by a report on their

opinion, necessary action, and suggested improvements.

STEP 17. POLITICAL & GOVERNANCE REFORMS

Government reforms that will accommodate all stakeholders in governance, and the

processes leading up to the development of the inclusive governance, may detangle some stubborn

conflicts, especially political and ethnic conflicts. Reforms in the areas of: elections and the de-

monetization of the electoral processes, cultural interactions, civilian fact-finding operations,

humanitarian diplomacy, power sharing arrangements, anti-corruption, civil service reform to

accommodate power sharing arrangements, innovations in service delivery, effective fiscal

management, and tax administration, devolution to lower levels of government, civil societies

development, and bureaucratic capacity to ensure effective implementation and ownership of all

political processes. Political commitment is a major determinant of successful implementation of

reforms which need to be broad based for sustainability. For a smaller conflict, political and

Pag

e14

governance reforms may not necessarily be all encompassing. However, widespread states of

insecurity and public dissatisfaction, may require this suggested all-encompassing political and

governance reforms.

STEP 18. PEACE & CONFLICT COMMUNICATION EDUCATION

Conflict and peace education must be engaged and sustained at all levels of the society.

School curriculums at all levels must include conflict and peace studies, media houses, civil

service, and private companies must be engaged, so as to improve on public understanding of

conflict and peace building processes. Peace radio/TV, media transformation into a true profession

of the highest integrity and competence, through journalist training, engaging balanced

international broadcasts, promoting alternative information, and communication sources will help

to de-escalate conflict. Civic education, formal education projects, peace education, and exchange

visits, all work places training in conflict management, resolution, prevention and transformation

will also be supportive to peace building processes. All these will also support preventive

activities against the repetition of same conflicts or formation of an intractable nature.

STEP 19. INTEGRATED-INTERDISCIPLINARY SYSTEMS OF

SUPPORT/MONITORING & EVALUATION (M&E)

Newer levels of cross-curricular peacebuilding that involve conscious efforts to apply

knowledge, principles, and/or values, from more than one academic discipline to the conflict

intervention and peacebuilding processes may need to be sought and engaged to improve on

restoration of communities back to normalcy. This must then be followed up by monitoring and

evaluation activities to measure successes, and failures, for the purpose of following up all efforts

to correct what needs to be done better. When the M&E is completed, some phases of the

peacebuilding processes may need to be revisited and re-addressed.

REFERENCES

Cordell, K. and Wolff, S. (2013). Ethnic conflict: causes – consequences – response. Polity Press,

65 Bridge Street, Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK.

Dwyer, S. (1999, March) “Reconciliation for Realists”, Ethics and International Affairs, 13, 1

(March 1999): p. 81-­‐98,89.