Ivorian guilt: a condition for lasting peace

Abstract

The concept of conflict has various aspects. Between disputes, violence, disagreements, wars, it is important to define the elements of conflictuality and the institutional character of research in conflict management and resolution today. Nevertheless, we have come to perceive that the key to successful conflict resolution for lasting peace lies in the human experience of guilt and forgiveness. These are certainly not new elements for conflict management specialists and diplomats. However, these two notions are relegated to the background in favor of compromise and coercive measures against conflicting factions. Our vision of conflict resolution is that without the emphasis on the experience of guilt and forgiveness, people will live in perpetual conflict and pass it on to future generations: sustainable hatred. Is it possible to institutionalize forgiveness and take actions that lead to true collective and individual guilt as a prerequisite for sustainable reconciliation among peoples? The nature and frequency of our conflicts force us to reconsider the methods of approach used until now. Indeed, this is what some reconciliation commissions, mostly called "Dialogue - Truth - Reconciliation; Dialogue - Justice - Reconciliation; Justice and Peace, etc." are trying to do, where the belligerents, the executioners and the victims are invited to confess, to tell the truth and to forgive in order to live together again. But in the space of a reconciliation process initiated through these commissions, the ballet of confessions as well as the feelings of victimization follow one another before, in the background, the amnesty for the perpetrators and the granting of forgiveness by the victims. This seems unconvincing because these commissions are mostly set up by the victors of the moment. In some parts of Africa especially, the victors are assisted by high-level Western allies. These are processes where peace is temporary and is maintained by force, and where the executioners are always the others.