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8 December 2007

CONFLICT –THREAT OR OPPORTUNITY? 

“Conflict is inevitable” but “all conflicts, no matter what the cause, can offer an opportunity to resolve unbalanced power relations” said Emmanuel Bombadene Executive Director of the West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP) when he addressed a combined meeting of Franciscans International and Edmund Rice International personnel in Geneva recently.

Educated by the Presentation Brothers in Ghana, Emmanuel is a living example of the importance of investing in people, something he also stressed in his presentation.

Whilst urging a focus on conflict prevention rather than post-conflict reconstruction he argued that the best solution is to transform, rather than resolve conflict.

On a global level, the most effective way of transforming conflict is through mediation, facilitation, conciliation and negotiation, a lesson much of the world has still to absorb given its propensity to try and impose peace by force as exemplified by Iraq and the “war on terror”.

A more detailed account of Emmanuel’s presentation can be found at the Edmund Rice International website.

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