Conflict resolution South Africa’s latest hot export

Spotlight

SOUTH Africa is best known for exporting diamonds, wine and oranges, but we are also increasingly making a name for ourselves in the export of conflict resolution.

Many of our Struggle stalwarts have supported or initiated peace processes around the world, from Sri Lanka to Northern Ireland, Colombia and Palestine, Madagascar and the Democratic Republicof the Congo.

But perhaps one of the most unlikely places our veterans chose to tackle was the conflict between the Basque separatists and the governments of Spain and France.

The ETA waged a four-decade bloody campaign for the independence of the Basque territory, on the border between France and Spain.

It was blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a string of bombings and shootings on both sides of the Franco-spanish border.

About 350 ETA members are still prisoners in Spain and France.

One might wonder how South Africans could have an impact on such a fierce war of secession, but the ANC’S history of armed struggle and successful negotiations provided some lessons for the separatists.

From 2003, what they wanted from the ANC was advice on how to transition from an armed struggle to peace negotiations.

It was after meetings with South African veterans in 2003 and 2004 that the leader of the Basque independence movement, Arnaldo Otegi, gave a speech in which he referred for the first time to the option of a peace process as a means of resolving the conflict.

Leaders of the Basque independence negotiated settlement, and Kasrils was involved in the verification process of ETA combatants giving up their arms.

It should also be said that Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin Mcguiness also played a pivotal role in convincing the ETA to give up their arms.

By 2011,the ETA had announced the end of its armed campaign, and an international verification commission was established to oversee the disarmament process.

This was not recognised by the French or Spanish governments, but was recognised by the Basque National Party.

Despite the obstacles, the commission was able to play a verification role co-ordinated by Ram Manikkalingam, who had been involved in the peace processes in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka and the DRC.

What was different in the Basque case was there was no direct involvement of the state, which caused difficulties, and led to delays in handing over weapons.

The verification commission only had dealings with the Basque government, while the Spanish government under the conservative Partido Popular avoided it.

The other difference was that civil society and institutions played an important role in the disarmament process, in that the ETA handed over many of its weapons to Basque civil society, which then gave them to French authorities.

On April 8, the ETA announced it had surrendered all arms and explosives, providing information about the locations of eight caches.

Unfortunately, Spain was dismissive of the process, calling it unilateral and stating the ETA should expect nothing in return.

The official position is the ETA must “disband as an organisation and ask for forgiveness.”

The balance of forces is such that Spain does not see a need to negotiate with a group it perceives as terrorists, especially when it has many of the ETA leaders behind bars.

While Spain may have effectively secured a victory over the ETA, few long-running conflicts result in lasting peace without some compromises.

The ETA would ideally like its convicted members freed. But the group’s lesser demands are that it would like to see improved prison conditions for those serving sentences, and for them to be able to serve their sentences closer to home.

The Basque government would also like to negotiate for greater autonomy, perhaps along the lines of that enjoyed by Quebec in Canada.

Many in Basque country want to push for greater autonomy and perhaps as many as 10%-15% still support secession.

Those fighting for greater autonomy in Quebec kept that flame alive for decades until the Canadian federal government granted more autonomy.

Dialogue with the Basques may prove worth considering to consolidate peace.