Saturday November 28, 2020
Baidoa, Somalia – AMISOM Political Affairs Unit has concluded a training aimed to equip traditional elders with skills to mediate and resolve conflicts and disagreements in their communities.
The four-day training on reconciliation and conflict management, held in Baidoa, attracted over 40 traditional elders in the Southwest State of Somalia.
The AMISOM Political Unit and the AMISOM Civilian Sector team in the Southwest State organised the training, which enabled participants to share experiences on conflict resolution and management in the community.
The Governor of Bay region, Ali Wardhere Abdirahman, hailed AMISOM for organising the training, noting that elders play a vital role in promoting peaceful coexistence in the communities.
“Reconciliation is essential because of the different conflicts in Somalia that range from political disagreement, clan clashes, which require amicable mechanisms to resolve these issues,” said Abdirahman.
Ugas Shire Ugas Warsame, an elder, highlighted that the training had enhanced their abilities to resolve and prevent conflicts at all levels.
“Elders are the reference point of conflict resolution in Somalia. They have been resolving disputes between people for a long time and have played a key role in state-building,” said Ugas Shire.
Fadil Karrar, the Head of AMISOM Civilian Sector in Southwest State said the training to skill elders would also support resolving of disputes in the upcoming electoral process. This is in the context that 69 Lower House members will be elected from Southwest State, in the upcoming 2020/2021 elections.
“AMISOM is playing a role in the electoral process. That is why they came up with [ the workshop] to enhance the capacity of clan elders and key community leaders. Elders choose the delegates who in turn elect members of parliament. They have a role to play in this upcoming election,” said Karrar.
The spokesperson of the Southwest State traditional elders council, Malaq Mohamed Yakub Derrow, said the training came at a time when elders are meditating several conflicts. Derrow asked AMISOM to conduct more training sessions to improve the elders’ conflict resolution skills.
“We thank AMISOM Political Affairs for the timely training on conflict management and Reconciliation a head of the National Elections. We request similar trainings to be conducted for elders wherever they are because they cannot execute their duties without proper skills,” said Derrow.