37 SPECIALREPORT
MercyCorps as an organisation was able to set a foundation that would lead towards sustainable peace.’
Suleiman says ‘On the surface people refer to the conflict as ethnoreligious, but the deep rooted causes are more political and economic in nature. The more the government and leaders are committed to the issue of peace, then the better for the economy of the households, and the more the economy is better, the less the people will resort to violence. It is possible, no matter the conflict, that communities can find a common ground in which they can live together without violence. ‘He draws attention to one of the strategies used by SFCG ‘The identification of certain economic projects for them that can be done by both herders and farmers, and then to support them to put a process in place, so that it can serve as a platform for cooperation which they will then use as a springboard to address other conflict issues.’ On the same point, Gang explains ‘We worked with the communities to create a more friendly environment, and we saw an increase in people trying to pursue their economic activities. For instance tin mining is going on, which was not there during the crises. Also, pastoralists and farmers are working together on shared farmlands, which was not the case before.’
Saleh Momale, Acting Executive Director, The Pastoral Resolve (PARE) goes down memory lane ‘DFID advertised a funding project for peace building and MercyCorps ,an international peace building organisation, indicated interest and they started to search for possible partners they could work with, and PARE was one of such organisations that was identified. They communicated to us, and from then our partnership and linkage started. PARE contributed its own ideas to the development of the proposal for addressing conflicts between pastoralists and farmers.’
Dalyop stresses ‘How peace came to exist between the Fulani and the Berom is a long story. The traditional rulers, youth leaders, community development associations, as well as Mercy Corps and PARE played a role in the effort. These two NGOs used to call us for meetings. We will sit together and discuss, and when we get home we implement what we discussed. They also trained us in the resolution of conflicts. I have many Fulani friends and we trust each other, and this friendship began long before the crises .Whatever was happening among the Berom, I would inform the Fulani by phone, and so they would be careful. If the Fulani are planning an attack, they will inform me, and I would tell my people to exercise caution.’
According to Momale both NGOs had some advantages when they commenced the project in 2012 ‘Here was an international organisation with vast experience and knowledge of techniques of peace building, and PARE with high level interest and good understanding of the local dynamics of the conflict in plateau state. Unlike many other NGOs that were working on peace building in plateau state, the Mercy Corps and PARE interventions were unique because of its ability to clearly map out the conflicting communities, and identification of the key community actors in the conflict. There was very good knowledge of the local environment and the local leaders.’ Hear him ‘Within one year we were on talking terms with all the local groups and leaders. By 2013 our objective was to change mindsets and stereotypes that were preventing meaningful and voluntary dialogue between the conflicting communities.’ On February 1, 2016 a peace agreement was signed by the conflicting sides, and this led to greater harmony among the inhabitants of the two local governments. Among other things they agreed that from that day henceforth, there should be free movement of people. This meant that farmers are free to move to pastoralist communities and go anywhere they want without molestation, and pastoralist are free to move into farmers communities anywhere. Also, pastoralaists were free to graze their animals in Berom communities and Berom communities were free to move, collect firewood and mine tin in pastoralists areas etc.
‘The livelihoods of people have been negatively affected, and there is a need to support vulnerable families. People lost houses, farms, they lost farm implements, lost livestock and therefore their means of survival is significantly constrained. They need to be supported to rebuild their livelihoods,’ contends Momale. He turns to the traditional institutions ‘The influence and capacity of traditional institutions has been weakened by the violence, and there is need too to support these traditional institutions to be more functional in the management of land as well as land resources. In recent years, governance at both the administrative framework, as well as the traditional institution has been excluding a large section of the society. Hence, the need for more pluralistic governance .Leadership has to be more plural, not just narrow, based on dominant ethnic groups .Next is education and social orientation. If you look at the quality of primary schools in the two local governments, they have degenerated. The quality of basic education should be improved.’
Gang also draws attention to other issues that need to be addressed not just in the two local governments, but in Nigeria as a whole ‘The pastoralist-farmer conflict is not a plateau thing, it is a Nigeria thing. If tensions still exist, it is because between these conflicts there are systemic issues that need to be addressed. The issue of governance is a huge problem. When we sat down with these communities, they were able to identify that one of the major issues was their relationship with security forces. We trained some of the military personnel to actually engage in dispute resolution with the communities. Overtime they were able to build trust, and I think this is something that should be sustained. What are we doing to bridge the gap between the indigenes and the settlers? Thats a policy issues.’ He concludes ‘Just looking at this as the farmer-pastoralist conflict, to me and my organisation, I think it’s a bit narrow. A lot of things need to be put in place for us to see this long term peace, or sustainable peace that we are talking about. At this point I would like to say that we are still at a very fragile state. What we have seen in most of these areas is a reduction to almost zero of violent conflicts, but these conflicts are still