Conflict Resolution - The Role of Elders

Image via WikipediaIndigenous methods of conflict resolution make a strong international debut. Scott Baldauf at CS Monitor examines the role of elders in the recent Kenya crisis:

At a time when Kenya's angry "young turks" were whipping up the emotions that fed violence, these African elders had the calming influence of a stern grandparent, in front of whom one doesn't misbehave.
"I came in at a time when there was so much mistrust," recalls Koffi Annan in an interview later. "The two blocks had dug in. One felt they had won the elections fair and square, the other maintained 'you stole it.' "
"With that sort of attitude, getting them to come together, and getting them to begin to think of coming together, and ... thinking in terms that we are all Kenyans and we are one Kenya, and we need to work together to put it back together, was not an easy task," he says with a large dose of understatement.Today, five months later, an uneasy alliance is holding...[continue reading]