My mother recently shared a story that I never heard of, which involved a family male relative who was murdered during the Somali civil war in the 1990s. He grew up with my mother but had belonged to another tribe. According to her recollection, this relative was walking in the street one day and was then kidnapped & killed by members of my mother's family rival tribe to which his body was later found nearby.
This incident further ignited retaliation from his brother, who mobilised his tribe to seek revenge and justice, and the story goes on to further killings. Unfortunately, these stories are familiar across Somalia and neighboring countries in East Africa, where ethnic and communal violence have persisted for decades.
So why does transitional justice mechanism of memorialisation matter in peacebuilding?
Peacebuilding, as we know, is the process in which countries that have been embodied in conflict and violence can rebuild their institutions, infrastructures and repair the social fabric of societies and communities.
While the traditional peacebuilding approach primarily focuses on the present notion of ending violence and bringing armed groups to the peace negotiation table - it is also about addressing the root causes of conflict, understanding what happened and why. So much of this consists of memorialisation, truth-seeking, reconciliation healing and justice .
For many Somali families, whether back home or in the diaspora, we have yet to acknowledge the trauma and violence of the past and the underlying historical clan grievances, which explains why Somalia has remained in a state of fragility for almost 30 years.
However, the blame does not fall on those who had suffered from the war but instead on decision-makers and practitioners working in the field of peace and security that fail to recognise the importance of transitional justice mechanisms.
As I navigate in this field of peacebuilding and work closely with communities affected by violence, it is obvious to connect present-day conflict and social, economic injustices to past historical events, which is overlooked in the international peacebuilding approaches.
For example, if we analyse the recent outbreak of inter-communal violence in the Sudan Darfur region with a post-colonial lens, we would be able to understand that these acts of violence are not isolated incidents or simply communities at war with each other over land or resources. Rather Sudan's religious, ethnic and communal tension between the Arabs and the non-Arabs stems from the historical legacy of the divide and rule tactics employed by the British during the colonial era of 1899-1956, that created an unequal social hierarchy and deep-rooted distrust, fear between the Sudanese people that continues till the present day.
Which is why in the case of Sudan and South Sudan, remembering the past enables us to acknowledge the impact of centuries of European colonialism and how it continues to shape contemporary conflict and inter-ethnic and religious tension.
By doing so, we can support civil society to develop contextualised transitional justice and peacebuilding approaches that will effectively address the root causes of conflict and provide spaces for healing and reconciliation.
Inter-generational trauma and social grievances
Remembering the past also means understanding how previous memories of violence might have impacted the next generation and how this might cause possibilities of further revenge.
If you walk around the streets in Yemen Southern governorate, you will see posters commemorating young men and boys who were killed trying to protect their communities during the war in 2015. While trying to understand what had motivated many of these inexperienced young men to pick up arms and fight, local Yemenis that I spoke with highlighted the inter-generational trauma and Southern grievances, which previously ignited the civil war of 1994.
Rather than incorporating transitional justice mechanisms, the international community is once again promoting a top-down one size fits all peace process that overlooks Yemen's historical social, political, and economic grievances which underpins the current war.
There are so many examples that I could list to showcase the vital need for memorialisation efforts in peacebuilding approaches. At the same time, I acknowledge that transitional justice is highly complex and would need to be adopted according to the context. However, simple mechanisms such as memorialisation, acts of remembrance, truth-seeking, and social justice can and should be promoted in the early stages of peacebuilding.
Without such engagement with the past, it is easy for conflict-affected societies and communities to repeat, re-enact violence and pass down memories of trauma and grievances. For many of us who are first or second-generation born to parents who had experienced civil war displacement, there is nothing more important than making peace with the past.
Main photo taken by a family member during a protest against Siad Barre regime outside the Somali embassy in London (1990s)
Twitter- SagalAbas