December 2004/January 2005
Vol. X, No. 4
Amid Conflict, A Chance for Peace
David Smock |
Bloody religious battles in Nigeria have killed tens of thousands of people in the past five years, many in the scenic Plateau State. There, in central Nigeria, Muslims, who tend to predominate in the northern regions of the country, confront a Christian majority population of small-scale farmers. Traditionally traders and cattle owners, most of the Muslims are wealthier than their Christian neighbors, and class and land ownership issues generate conflicts that divide communities along religious lines. Mob violence and revenge killings claimed 53,000 lives between 2001 and 2004, according to a recent government report, and though outsiders generally put the casualty figures lower, there is no visible prospect of an end to the conflict.
But Institute Religion and Peacemaking director David Smock, who has lived and worked in Nigeria intermittently for nearly forty years, recently experienced one of those extraordinary moments that bring hope to even the bleakest situation. The story begins with two young men, Pastor James Wuye and Imam Mohammed Ashafa, who fought on opposite sides in a religious clash in the township of Zongon Kataf in 1992 and endured heartbreaking losses—in one case, of an arm, and in the other, of two brothers. Reflecting on their pain and realizing the warrant for peace in their two faiths, they established the Interfaith Mediation Centre and committed themselves to work collaboratively to promote interfaith reconciliation. In 1999, they coauthored a book titled The Pastor and the Imam: Responding to Conflict, which describes their experiences and sets out the Biblical and Quranic mandates for peace. With help from the United States Institute of Peace—and with the credibility that comes from personally knowing the anger that leads to violence and the grief and futility that comes of it—they trained countless youth in the art of peacemaking and helped bring peace to the troubled city of Kaduna.
Smock visited them in November 2004, when they set out for the troubled city of Yelwa-Nshar, where nearly 1,000 people were killed last May. Smock witnessed several mass graves for Muslims and one for Christians. The two leaders brought together key community leaders for five days of sharing and negotiation, using a combination of preaching and conflict resolution techniques (some taught to them by the Institute). “For me, the most remarkable feature of the process was the frequent quotes from the Quran by the pastor and from the Bible by the imam,” says Smock.
The atmosphere at the outset of the talks was tense and confrontational, and for a while it looked as if little progress would be made. By the end of the third day, the two sides had reached an agreement on what the core issues were that had provoked the killing—hardly a major breakthrough. With two days left, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to resolve their differences, and there were fears that the stalemate might even generate further antipathy. The fourth day began with Smock pessimistic about the outcome. The first issue to be addressed was the Christian complaint that the Muslims, who had moved into the area from northern Nigeria, failed to respect local traditions and leaders. The Christians leveled several specific charges against their Muslim neighbors.
To Smock’s surprise—and to the surprise of most of the attendants—a Muslim leader agreed that these charges were all valid, and that the behavior of his brethren had been unacceptable. He apologized and begged forgiveness.
This was the emotional breakthrough the conference needed. The Christians in turn apologized for their unacceptable and un-Christian behavior toward the Muslims. The anger and grievances that each side had brought to the table dissolved as they both realized that their own side was partly at fault and had behaved in a manner inconsistent with the dictates of their religion.
On the final day of the conference the two sides worked through the remaining issues, agreeing either on a resolution acceptable to both sides or on a process to find a resolution. They drafted and signed a peace declaration and made plans for a peace ceremony.
Only time will tell if the peace will hold, but the two sides had experienced an emotion that they will not soon forget: a recognition of mutual humanity that transcends the barriers of class and religion, and with it, a sense of hope—without which peace has little chance. “The experience at Yelwa-Nshar demonstrates that even the bloodiest conflicts in Nigeria can be addressed creatively,” says Smock. “The combination of religious exhortation and well-tested conflict resolution techniques brought reconciliation where few might have imagined it possible.”
