23 Nov 2015

Head of African Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation Professor Tim Murithi says half of violent conflicts in Africa can be linked to neighbouring states.

Speaking at a workshop on the role of SADC civil society in promoting, mediation, juctice and reconcilliation on Thursday November 19 in Gaborone Professor Murithi stated that conflict does not stop at the border but spills over beyond borders and hence affecting neighbouring states.

He said war affected states and communities in close proximity to each other need to recognise their regional interdependence in order to device formal regional reconciliation process and mechanisms.

Nevertheless he stated that civil society organisations pursue cross border regional reconciliation initiatives which still remains difficult to attain due to lack of commitment from countries.

“Reconciliation across borders still remains unchartered territory for states and inter-governmental organisations,” he noted.

Giving a presentation on the Role of SADC civil society in promoting mediation, Justice and Reconciliation, SADC- Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (SADC-CNGO) executive director Mr Boichoko Ditlhake said the concept of mediation and peace building must be nurtured, defended and promoted.

He stated that mediation is critical in peace building and creating freedom adding that the civil society plays a major role in the SADC region in consolidating democracy and peace. Mr Ditlhake highlighted that at this point SADC should be having clear records of where they have mediated as a region and the outcomes.

“Our focus is diluting conflict rather than dissolving and eliminating it and hence we should ask ourselves how efficient our mediation structures are.”

The Executive Director stated that post electoral conflicts are the most dominating in the SADC region with SADC-CNGO having mediated in Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Lesotho and DRC post elections in the past.

Mr Ditlhake indicated that civil society engagement in SADC is limited with a few attempts to involve the civil society in the debriefing and preliminary process instead of the whole mediation process. Ends