Conflict resolution, prevention, and transformation: Search for Common Ground

The government and people of Angola continue to work toward long-term development and meet the needs derived from the legacy of the thirty-year civil war. Efforts at rebuilding the infrastructure of the country are progressing slowly, with a focus on housing, roads, water, and sanitation. Equally crucial, however, is the continuing recovery from conflict: thousands of residents are still internally displaced: the security forces have been integrated with different factions but are not yet adequately trained; petty crime and gang violence within the capital city are on increasing and there is a growing gap between rich and poor, the absence of a formal reconciliation process has left much unaddressed trauma, and land mines remain a serious threat in some parts of the countryside.

Within this climate, the preparation for national elections rolls on. The electoral registration process ended on September 15th, after a 90- day extension to allow registration brigades to reach more remote areas. Preliminary data shows that more than 7.5 million Angolans have registered to vote. This impressive accomplishment exceeds the government’s goal. While registration was successful overall, it was not without problems, including: recently made complaints by several political parties; the lack of international observation; intermittent reports of abuse and intimidation by security forces; reports of unwarranted collection and copying of registration cards by local authorities; and a lingering attitude among thousands of Angolans that there was no need to register, as elections will not likely bring about any positive change. The country is positioned for successful elections, but this will depend upon effective and open interaction and problem solving by diverse actors within Angolan society.

In addition to preparing for the elections, Angola faces other challenges over the months ahead as evidenced by a September report by Amnesty International documenting continuing human rights abuses by police forces; the arrest and imprisonment of the Director of “Angolense” (one of Angola’s private weekly newspapers); and the high profile, politically sensitive trial of a high ranking military official, General Miala. Positive signs exist as well. The Syndicate of Angolan Journalists has begun co-hosting open discussions on the press freedom; the Ministry of Justice is developing extra-judiciary “mediation centers” as an alternative form of conflict resolution; and, for the first time ever, a national NGO organized a “vigil service” in protest of the imprisonment of the Director of Angolense, at which observers received protection by the national police force. Key actors, including representatives from political parties, civil society organizations and traditional leaders (Sobas) have been increasingly willing to engage in broad-based discussion about problems, progress, and future needs. While there is still a high degree of mistrust and jockeying for position, actors are open to the idea of sitting at the same table to engage in dialogue. SFCG continues to engage these actors applying various tools of conflict transformation to support peaceful political engagement in Angola.

Angola’s recent history has been marked by cycles of violence and insecurity that continue to present many challenges and opportunities. Carlos Vicente (featured in the last update), a former child soldier and now the coordinator of SFCG’s Peace and Security Program, has been at the vanguard of positive change with his work with security forces as they take on new roles during this stage in their country’s history. With Carlos’ expert input, SFCG recently published an innovative new conflict-resolution training manual designed specifically for security forces in post-conflict Angola.

While most Angolans see their local police forces as important actors in the resolution of local conflict, these forces have sometimes been the greatest abusers of human rights in their communities. Over the past year Carlos Vicente led training sessions uniquely tailored for security forces in post-conflict Angola, aimed at teaching these individuals new skills that will enable them to interact more peacefully with civilians. Carlos has had a great deal of success leading discussions with ex-combatants on human rights and conflict sensitive topics, in part because of his legitimacy as a former military leader, and because of an interactive methodology that involves the participants.

SFCG's trainings are designed to help these groups become sources of genuine security for their communities as well as becoming active promoters of human rights and social justice. Over its many years of training SFCG has found that the curriculum that works best is one that uses the soldiers’ and police officers’ own experiences to present human rights principles and demonstrate that these principles can be upheld through the application of negotiation, mediation, and active listening techniques.

Throughout the project, Carlos exchanged ideas with both local and international SFCG trainers and staff and reflected on his own experiences to outline the manual’s framework. As the manual developed, it was tested for its utility with military and police trainers to ensure that it would meet their needs in practice. SFCG amended the manual’s approach as training continued, adding further examples and clarifying certain concepts based on participants' own feedback and the trainer’s experiences. The final manual presents trainers with a wealth of experience and well-tested concepts that engage former soldiers and police.

SFCG’s program is recognised as highly effective by both the police and military in Angola. The National Police Division of Civic and Moral Education has requested that SFCG hold a special ‘training for trainers’ session for their own national trainers so that they can put the manual to use in provinces not yet touched by SFCG’s efforts. In addition, SFCG will use this curriculum to help improve its security sector reform projects in other countries throughout Africa and the world.

In 1997, in the midst of the Angolan civil war, SFCG worked with Angolan musicians from both sides of the divide to produce a Peace Song, which later became an anthem celebrating the end of the war in 2002. Ten years later, SFCG is again using music as a tool for peacebuilding and reconciliation. This time an ambitious effort has brought together 24 of Angola's most popular musicians and producers to write and record the album, Music for Peace. Multiple celebrated artists from the music industry have joined Music for Peace, including Paulo Flores, Angola’s UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, the popular traditional musician Filipe Mukengua, and the renowned Grupo 02. The vocalists Bigú Ferreira and Walter Ananás served as artistic directors during the project.

The musicians, representing Angolans from all walks of life, have been coming together over the past four months to contribute to this effort. The project began with an SFCG-organized seminar in the beginning of 2007 to present the objectives of Music for Peace to the musicians. The overall purpose of the CD was explained - It is an effort to reach out to Angolan youth through music in order to catalyze a shift towards a new Angolan attitude, one which celebrates cooperation, participation and hope in the future. Through this project, SFCG is presenting a model of partnership and cooperation across ethnic, geographic, and political divides around messages of peace, reconciliation, and civic engagement, particularly around the upcoming elections.

The musicians took these themes from the seminar and began to write songs and lyrics for submission to a joint committee that included members of SFCG, the Angolan Territorial Administration and the National Electoral Commission. Out of this process, twelve songs are currently being recorded at Luanda's “Studio Maianga” by the musicians. They are sung in Portuguese as well as several local languages, and include rhythmic styles from north, south, and east Angola. The project's lead song is "Angola Solta a Tua Voz" (Angola Lift up your Voice), a new Afro-jazz style anthem composed in part by Artur Neves, produced by Nino Jazz, and sung together by a supergroup of all Music for Peace musicians. The album is currently being promoted heavily in Angola in preparation for its expected release at the end of 2007.

Building Connections Between Agents for Peaceful and Fair Elections

Throughout 2007, SFCG regional field agents worked closely with provincial level electoral committees to develop and implement strategies to raise awareness and support for Angola's Electoral Code of Conduct, which presents guidelines to ensure a fair and peaceful election process. The culmination of these efforts came on September 19-20, 2007, when SFCG brought together members of these provincial committees with national level actors in Luanda to take part in an open constructive dialogue on election preparations. The conversation between these participants centered on the lessons learned from the provincial committees' efforts, particularly the constraints they found to be hindering the code of conduct's application, as well as conflicts currently affecting the electoral process and potential sources of conflicts in the elections and post elections periods. They particularly focused on the value of cooperation between different stake holders, drawing on their experiences in their communities.

The exchange among the participants was particularly useful in providing the first steps toward an integrated national strategy. The National Electoral Commission Director for Civic Education, Dr. Maria Leticia, summed up the spirit of the occasion thusly:

"From now on the work should not be restricted to Luanda...CNE reiterates that no achievement can be made in isolation, an important conclusion of this forum is that future action should be conceived collectively. Civic education campaigns to be launched at the national level must be articulated inclusively so that all are trying to achieve the same goals."

SFCG's project in Cabinda province has had a strong first year, thanks to the steady cooperation of the Government of Cabinda, the communities where SFCG is working, civil society partners and SFCG’s donors. SFCG's skilled trainers and outreach staff in the province have engaged each of these actors in trainings and workshops that give them the tools and motivation to work together in concert and participate in the development of the region.

Over the past months, government officials and SFCG staff co-facilitated five government workshops on conflict resolution and participatory development strategies reaching more than 150 government representatives. These efforts have immediately shown results; motivated by these workshops, government administrators made four visits to rural, under served areas to hold dialogues about community needs.

Exchanges between government and civil society, focused on participatory development planning, have increased following SFCG's trainings and dialogues. Communities in Cacongo Municipality launched a community mobilization campaign called "We are the Change." The campaign has thus far resulted in more than 500 hours of community volunteer service. Four communities have also designed and submitted community development plans to municipal government officials and Chevron. The plans lay out the communities' development priorities as well as the contribution that will be required from the government and Chevron.

Finally, SFCG's engagement with the artisanal fishing groups Avopesca (the voice of the fishermen) and Tierro has helped build their capacity to present their ideas, objectives and access funding for their members and has resulted in each group submitting proposals to Chevron to conduct outreach activities in the communities that they represent.

As the project enters its second year the local associations that SFCG has been working with have already planned several development activities, including the rehabilitation of roads along the coast by coastal communities, the building of school classrooms, and the clearing and construction of soccer fields to be used for youth and adult matches as well as cultural activities.

"Dynamic" describes SFCG's official of Huila province well. Siminha Nsekele takes on many roles with SFCG with a high level of enthusiasm. SFCG and Siminha found each other thanks to an internship program co-sponsored by Exxon/Mobil and Development Workshop. After the two-month internship, SFCG realized that Siminha brought a distinct contribution to the team and employed her as a Project Assistant for SFCG's civil society strengthening project. During her time as an assistant, Siminha grew professionally; gaining valuable experience in training and project management and in 2007 was promoted to the position of Program Official for Huila Province. In her new role, Siminha is responsible for planning and conducting activities with SFCG's various partners in the province including the Huila Land Consortium and the Huila Cooperative Forum of Electoral Agents. In addition to her primary role, Siminha's voice can often be heard on Studio N'Jango's youth program, "Baza Madie," where she is asked to provide comments on social issues based on insights gained from to her Sociology degree and her work in Huila. In Siminha's own words "Working at SFCG is the fulfillment of my dreams. I studied theory of human behavior at University, and here I am now applying it every day. Many people do not get to turn the theory of their studies into practice in their jobs but I do. I hope to continue my professional growth with SFCG so that I can promote peaceful popular participation amongst those who do not feel that they have a voice, particularly women and mothers."