The National Peace Council has urged communities to employ peaceful conflict resolution mechanisms to promote social cohesion and use dialogue to prevent and resolve conflicts among warring parties.
Mr Ali Anankpieng, the Executive Secretary of the Upper East Regional Peace Council, who made the call, said effective dialogue between parties involved in conflicts created understanding and appreciation among stakeholders.
‘Apart from resolving conflicts, dialogue can create understanding and help people to devise ways of respecting each other’s boundaries, build the resilience of communities and stay engaged rather than stay in different corners with eyes of suspicion,’ he said.
The Executive Secretary advocated this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a two-day training workshop on peacebuilding.
It was organised by the National Peace Council for indigenes and Fulbe groups at Kanjarga, a farming community in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region.
It was part of the
community dialogue to strengthen relations with the Fulbe groups and establish peace committees in Doninga and Kanjarga in the Builsa South District project, with funding support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Australian Aid.
It aimed to build cohesive and resilient communities and create a platform for effective communication between the communities and the Fulbe groups (comprising nomadic and pastoral herders) to address issues of concern and prevent conflicts.
Mr Anankpieng explained that apart from land and chieftaincy disputes plaguing the region, the conflict between communities and the Fulbe groups was on the rise in some communities in the region.
He said apart from overgrazing by animals belonging to the Fulbe groups leading to the destruction of crops, stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination were also factors that caused conflict between the two groups.
Mr Anankpieng, therefore, advocated effective dialogue as an important conflict prevention and resolution mechan
ism that should be embraced to ensure that social cohesion is strengthened for peaceful coexistence, especially between the communities and the herders.
‘Already, we are seeing issues between the communities and the Fulbe groups and so we thought it wise to bring them together and dialogue on the issues for them to reach a certain level of understanding so that they will be able to work together,’ he added.
He urged the participants to use the knowledge acquired to address issues that were affecting peaceful coexistence, especially farmer-herder conflicts, to help strengthen the prevailing peace.
Pognaab Felicia Awialie Akamjambudai, the Queen mother of Kanjarga, said many Fulbe groups resided in the community and it was beginning to breed misunderstanding.
She expressed optimism that the training would help to resolve the issues and ensure that they lived peacefully and worked for the improvement of their livelihoods.
Mr Jibril Osman Salifu, a member of the Fulbe groups, said discrimination and stereoty
pes were major challenges that they faced and noted that the training had deepened their understanding to prioritise dialogue to ensure a good relationship between the two groups.
Source: Ghana News Agency