The Kenyan Political Crisis 2008
- how civil war was prevented
(and how other civil wars could be, too)
Speakers
George Wachira
Senior Research & Policy Advisor, Nairobi Peace Initiative-Africa
Paul van Tongeren
Honorary Chair & Founder of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)
19 January 2010
6pm
House of Commons
Early January 2008 - fears of a civil war in Kenya are rising as the dispute over the 27 December presidential election result turns increasingly violent. The country looks to be splitting along tribal lines and many people have already died in riots.
But at the very same time, a remarkable peace initiative is being born. The Concerned Citizens for Peace (CCP), led by renowned mediators, peace builders and diplomats, is formally launched on 1 January 2008 and immediately becomes a crucial vehicle for rallying Kenyans around the call for peace and dialogue. As other peace initiatives emerge, CCP plays a vital coordinating role and helps facilitate an agreement between the main parties only weeks later that nips civil war in the bud.
George Wachira will talk about the role played by citizens’ diplomacy and civil society actors in the resolution of the crisis, and what the governments of Kenya - and now also Ghana - have learned from it. A key lesson is the need for peace architecture -a permanent peace infrastructure such as National, District and Local Peace Councils, which are guided by respected civil society leaders and help manage conflict to avoid violence.
Paul van Tongerenwill speak about initiatives to develop this concept and look for ways to implement it in more countries. This is urgently needed, as many commentators expect an increase in conflict, driven by climate change, competition for resources and mass migration, and also expect many more disputed elections.
Speaker Profiles
George Wachira is former Executive Director (1996-2006) of NPI-Africa and has spent the last two years researching the role of truth and reconciliation commissions in Africa, focusing on Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Africa. At the onset of the 2008 crisis in Kenya he co-founded CCP and is currently writing the CCP story for publication, a part of which will be distributed at the meeting.
In 1997 Paul van Tongeren founded the European Centre for Conflict Prevention (ECCP) in the Netherlands and was its Executive Director until 2007. In 2003, the ECCP facilitated the establishment of GPPAC, a global network of peacebuilding organizations. Paul now focuses much of his work on ’Infrastructures for Peace’.
