If these factors are analyzed, it becomes obvious that conflicts in Africa are not just about Africans fighting against each other aimlessly, but involves a whole web of local and international factors and interests. Therefore, at NPI-Africa, we emphasize the importance of comprehensive approaches for change at local, national and global levels if some of the conflicts we are experiencing are to be resolved and just and humane societies created. This is a real and practical challenge in the conflicts that have been marked by some of the worst atrocities imaginable. This is the challenge of reconciliation. It confronts the dilemma of how to ensure justice while at the same time nurturing long-term relationships and interdependence.
Reconciliation then becomes the painful past in dialogue with the common future.
It is about breaking the cycles of violence that so often repeat themselves. Yet, if not satisfactorily done, what is called reconciliation in some circumstances could be the seed for future pogroms. In the recent past, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission process and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda have helped focus on this dilemma. The tribunal on Rwanda seeks to achieve reconciliation by first punishing those of the perpetrators of the killings in Rwanda as can be proved guilty through a judicial process. I believe reconciliation is a deeply spiritual and often very personal choice.