National 8 (Spotlight Weekly)

Learn Lessons From Conflict-ridden Countries

By Bhanu Parajuli

No doubt, poverty, deprivation, injustice, inequality, and exclusion cause rebellion and armed revolt. It more or less applies to those developing countries subjected to conflict and violence. The civil society has raised voices that there exist several points of commonalties among the various conflict-ridden countries regarding the resolution of the political conflict and insurgency. Every conflict partners and organizations should first come together with a common agenda to respect the human rights. We could look into a few instances elsewhere to derive experiences for the potential settlement of the present imbroglio. The best experience for the resolution of the conflict in Nepal can be learned from El Salvador where internal malicious war was brought to an end through consensus with sincere implementation of the agreement between the state and insurgents. If there is no participation, no consensus would come into being and without consensus peace is always impossible.

In El Salvador a peace settlement brought the insurgents back into the mainstream of national politics and established them as a recognized leftist party. Under this settlement, the rebels surrendered their arms and their cadres were integrated into the society as farmers, traders, police, and armed forces after necessary training. For over ten years, the electoral system has worked under which the former rebels have emerged as the second largest political party. Closer home, we also have the example of the CPN (Marxist Leninist), which had applied violence in early 70s in eastern Nepal. But the ML had immediately realized that the armed insurgency was not appropriate solution for radical change in the nation. They then came into the mainstream politics. The outfit has now become a larger party.

Similarly Peru, Colombia and Guatemala provide different scenarios. In Peru, peace negotiations took place but failed to end the war. On the one hand, the guerrilla activity is continuing unabated but rebels are on the verge of defensive and loosing the internal and international support following the sabotage of peace process. Guatemala has a different story where also the peace agreement was reached between the two conflicting sides. The agreement continues to remain valid but the signatories on both sides do not seem well inclined to adhere to it. The former rebels have indulged in selective killings whereas the political leaders are acting irresponsibly. The result is that peace is fragile and violence can return any time. Nicaragua conflict provides us to learn more than elsewhere. The insurgents defeated the government and captured power by force. The government lost in the struggle because it was not elected and engaged in massive repression of the population and alienated the international community. Although the rebels won the war, they were not different in their conduct from the outgoing rulers. In 1990s, the Sandinistas, the rebel-turned-rulers lost the national elections. Nonetheless, they continue to remain in the political mainstream without going back to Jungle or underground.

Having learned lessons from these conflict-ridden countries, we are still at a loss to determine which way we shall take to resume peace and prosperity. It is a fact that military solution is no permanent solution to violent conflict. Basically, the government security forces can suppress the rebellion for a short duration but not eliminate it for a long time. On the other hand, the rebels can capture power by force but not retain it by the same means. It is all the more difficult to do so in a landlocked country like Nepal with two giant countries on two sides. So without losing any more time, the UN should be involved in the peace process that could bring conflict transformation in better way. Settlement should be reached in such a manner that there is a win-win feeling on all the sides of the conflict.

(The author is coordinator of Rural Reconstruction Nepal -RRN, Pokhara)