Definitions of Peace and Reconciliation in Africa

Abstract

This chapter considers definitions of peace and reconciliation in eight African countries from North African countries touching the Mediterranean to the central and southern African countries spanning the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. We begin with the awarding of the 2011 Peace Prize to two extraordinary African women from Liberia as part of the context for the definitions of peace and reconciliation. We then consider how Vision of Humanity uses the Global Peace Index to rank order peace in the eight African countries highlighted in this chapter. Because Africa has been known for many atrocities and human rights violations in the past 40 years, our attention focuses on the attempts at reconciliation in many of these countries from South African to Rwanda to Liberia. Definitions of reconciliation and the process by which many of these countries have attempted to gain forgiveness but at the same time establish restorative justice are chronicled. All participants completed the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Survey (PAIRTAPS), which included items asking for their definitions of peace and reconciliation. Nearly a third of the definitions of peace were coded for positive peace, while 47 % were coded for negative peace. More than 60 % of the reconciliation definitions identified reconciliation with processes rather than end states, with considerable emphasis put on uniting, including healing/uniting and building new relationships with a former enemy. The definitions of peace and reconciliation were considered in the context of the areas in which they originated; especially relevant is a discussion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa after the abolition of apartheid and the gacaca courts of Rwanda.