The fire of war needs both a spark to ignite it and fuel to keep it burning: Concordis teams are building resilience to conflict.
The war in Sudan has brought immense challenges, but there is a profound story of hope and opportunity emerging from the region.
Amidst the adversity, resilient communities and dedicated peacebuilders are working tirelessly to foster peace and build a better future. This is a story of how collective action and local solutions are creating real change.
Concordis is able to operate in the war zone of Sudan because we’ve invested heavily in our local staff. While it is difficult for foreign NGO staff to remain in Sudan, our local teams keep going and keep making a difference.
Local peacebuilders from the Concordis Advisory Group at work in a war zone.
Recently, a man from the Fur tribe was killed in Komba village in South Darfur. The village was burned, destroying houses belonging to 380 families. Community members contacted the Concordis Advisory Group, mediators who respond quickly to prevent the escalation of violence. Supported by the Concordis team, one of the newly trained mediators reached the village. He had only been trained for a few weeks, but he had the confidence to apply what he had learned and resolve the situation.
Komba Village in Kas Locality https://maps.app.goo.gl/ese24zmH2xbVEjj49
He began by listening to the concerns of the displaced families and identifying the root causes of the conflict, which included land disputes and incidents of theft and extortion. Using his training, he facilitated open discussions between the conflicting parties, encouraging dialogue and mutual understanding.
The mediation was able to produce key actions including the repatriation of displaced persons, joint reconstruction efforts by the various tribes in the region, and the payment of blood money (diya) to compensate for the loss of life.
Additionally, and crucially, a peace coexistence committee was established to mediate future disputes and foster long-term harmony.
The resolution of this situation has had a profound effect: it not only stabilized the immediate situation but also laid the groundwork for sustainable peace and cooperation in Komba. The agreement was supported by the wider community and emphasized the importance of dialogue and forgiveness. The community’s proactive steps, guided by the mediator’s facilitation, highlights the power of local solutions in addressing deep-seated conflicts.
The intervention by the Concordis Advisory Group and the trained mediator played a crucial role in restoring peace and preventing additional conflicts. The community is left with a demonstration of a different way to operate – relationally not violently.
The spark that ignites war and the fuel that keeps it burning.
The ‘spark’ is an incident or event – a fight or a theft - that can trigger a violent reaction, if it’s not put out quickly. The combustible ‘fuel’ is the grievances or intercommunity tensions, which make people more likely to react violently, increasing the chance that others will be drawn in, and which can be exploited by those seeking war for their own ends.
We respond to invitations from communities where the conflict is fought and felt. We put in place early warning systems with networks of local peacebuilders who extinguish the sparks of conflict before they catch. And we address root causes of conflict, calming intercommunity tensions to make South Darfur less volatile. All of this builds resilience to violence and makes genocide less likely.
Local peacebuilders extinguish the sparks quickly before they ignite the whole community.
Concordis has selected and trained a network of Community Peacebuilders from across South Darfur. They come from each group and tribe in conflict.
There are now 220 new mediators, all volunteers, trained by the Concordis team. They are working in their own communities to build trust, mediate disputes, and bring people together to find peaceful solutions to real conflicts that they experience – conflicts that can (and have in the past) led to serious inter-community violence. In the process, they rebuild the social and economic bonds that tie different ethnic groups together.
We address the issues that fuel the fire. That way, when those with power seek to ramp up intercommunity tension, people can just shrug it off, rather than listening to their inflammatory rhetoric. When tensions arise that would otherwise escalate into horrific intercommunity warfare, potential protagonists have peaceful ways to resolve their differences, like dialogue, without turning to violence.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "Sudan: One Year of Conflict - Key Facts and Figures " https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/sudan/sudan-one-year-conflict-key-facts-and-figures-infographic-15-april-2024