Grassroots groups aim to resolve conflicts

Photo: After a tie for the position of deputy representative, there was a run-off election to determine the winner.

Yesterday I attended the inauguration of the female side of the Conflict Mitigation Committee of one of the sites where we are presently implementing a conflict resolution project. The premise is simple, two communities are in conflict over natural resources (in this instance the right to a river that flows near both communities), we set up a conflict mitigation committee that comprises 50% men and 50% women with equal representation for each committee. It is the task of this committee to conduct meetings to actively try and mitigate the conflict and come up with a solution. A self-identified, jointly-implemented development project acts as catalyst for the communities to work together to improving the conditions for both. These are some photos from the event; this is democracy at its truest grassroots level as women vote.

Photo: Ballots are counted for the positions of Chair, deputy Chair, and Secretary

Anyone who has worked in Afghanistan will tell you the significance of an event such as this. Not only for the overall participation of Afghans in their future and the governing of their communities, but more so even, because of the participation of women in the process. What made this particular event even more significant, was the difference between the two communities, one which is predominantly Pashtu, the vast majority ethnic group of Afghanistan, while the other is the much-discriminated against Kuchi people. In this unique instance, the mostly nomadic Kuchi community settled in this area many years ago, and is now embroiled in a conflict over natural resources with the newer, yet more powerful and more educated Pashtu community. So to bring the women from these starkly different backgrounds together in a room, and to have them vote for a joint committee to represent all of their interests, is to say the least, remarkable.

The List Project: Helping Iraqi Refugees

Many of you who have been following my work for some time now will recall the harrowing stories of Iraqi colleagues whose lives are threatened because of their affiliation with coalition forces in the Iraqi reconstruction effort. I have told many stories of colleagues who's parents are kidnapped; those who find severed animal parts at their homes; of how they sleep with AK47s at night; but most of all of their resolve and their commitment to try and believe in a better future for their children.

Source: The List Project homepage

Iraq today, is by all accounts a quagmire and, behind Afghanistan, is the greatest producer of refugees in the world. Almost all of my former colleagues live in Jordan, Syria, Dubai or anywhere else they could get in (some in Canada and Sweden as well). I am still in close contact with many of them, who face a growing uncertainty in countries that are also questioning the feasibility of allowing more and more Iraqi refugees in their borders. They battle to find work, they keep a low profile, and most of them are fighting for even a temporary status in their host countries, just to keep them from having to return to Iraq.

Enter Kirk Johnson, a former colleague and good friend of ours. When he heard about the particular incident where a friend and colleague found a headless dog in his front yard with a note pinned to it saying "your head is next", he sprung into action. What followed was first an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. This gave him the necessary exposure, and after many visists to capital hill where he works with Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration, as well as the UN High Commision for Refugees (UNHCR), he launched The List Project.

The List Project advocates for refugee status for the hundreds of Iraqis who have placed their own, and the lives of their families, in jeopardy to support the US and other coalition partners in the reconstruction of Iraq. Many of them worked as translators for the military, but many more worked with Aid agencies and NGOs physically trying to rebuild their country day by day. They faced death threats, kidnappings, bombings in their neighborhoods, and threats to the lives of their children. In the uncertainty that prevailed, they continued to sneak in and out of the International Zone every morning, and again every afternoon, fearing for the worst, but told that there was no way to accomodate them inside the relative safety of the zone.

I urge you to visit the website of The List Project, to learn more about the plight of our Iraqi colleagues and friends, I believe we owe them that. Kirk Johnson, founder of The List: Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies, is slated to appear on the ABC World News Weekend broadcast this Sunday, July 8, 2007. Check your local listings for time and station.

Living through a death sentence

For once the ice-cold interior of the Hamurabi office building is a welcome refuge from the outside. I dashed back to my house; adrenalin runs high; heart beats quickly as I navigate through the fortified hard houses that long-term staff occupies on the compound. Instead of the direct route I normally take home I find myself snaking as much as possible, at times even entering other quads, adding precious concrete barriers between myself and the exterior walls.

The sounds are unmistakable, "rrrrrrratatatatatatatatatata" sounds the AK47, "rat-duht-duht-duht-duht" come the much deeper, evenly-spaced 50-caliber's response. In my ten months in Baghdad, one of the many things I have come to understand is that the latter is what they call "outgoing", generally a good thing. But when it happens in response to massive celebratory fire, it doesn't seem as effective as its normal silencing of misleading AK fire we experience at night from time to time.

And so, as with so many other random dates, today is in itself again a historic moment for Iraq. Saddam Hussein was convicted mere minutes ago for his role in the 1982 killing of 148 Shi'a villagers in the town of Dujail. The sentence passed down from the judge is that he will be hanged for his crimes, something he protested against instead demanding death by firing squad as a "military man", and not hanging like a "criminal".

The Regional Security Office at the embassy issued a precautionary mandate that all employees should be wearing their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when moving around outside on the compound outside, hence my necessary dash home. Everyone in the office is quite; the air conditioner is pleasantly cooling, not much discussion going on…

Earlier, a couple of Iraqi colleagues came into the dining hall with huge smiles on their faces, one of them, an attractive young man that works in motorpool indicated the international sign for "he's dead" by slicing his finger across the front of his neck exclaiming "finally, it's over". I asked him if he thought something was going to happen. He said "you mean something bad?"

smiling again, he added

"…no, of course not, the shooting outside is for the happiness".

So on that "happy" note, I'll keep my flack jacket and helmet on for good measure. "



A Few Hours Later.......


Just an update on the situation in Baghdad...in the scheme of things it was a relatively quiet day - even the celebratory fire was actually less than that which happens after a good football game in Baghdad. I do hear a lot of air traffic overhead tonight in what I can only imagine is continued surveillance of the volatile city. Please keep our Iraqi friends and neighbors in your thoughts and prayers.

Baghdad holdings its breath

With the anticipated conviction of Saddam Hussein expected later today, Baghdad is taking no chances. A curfew has been in place since 2100 last night, and runs through tomorrow - rendering all streets practically impassable to residents, including to our local staff.

The concern is that if a conviction (and subsequent penalty, most likely to be that of death by hanging) is passed, Saddam's own Sunni minority will rise up in anger. Alternatively, if a conviction is not passed, the Shi'a majority might view this as a failure in the fragile justice system.

The imminent conviction is riddled with potential problems and claimed irregularities. Some argue the timing was rigged to provide a boost for republicans before the mid-term elections, others fear that a conviction in this case, will hamper the process of justice in the ongoing Al Anfal campaign. Iraqi law states that if a death sentence is passed, it must be carried out within 30 days. Thus, if Saddam is convicted and sentenced in the Dujail case in which he allegedly ordered the killing of 148 Shi'a villagers following an attempt on his life in 1982, he will most likely not complete the Al Anfal trial that accuses him of systematically killing as many as 182,000 individuals between 1986 and 1989 in his anti-Kurdish campaign.

One thing I wonder about is what Kurdistan will do if they do not see their own slice of justice.

In the meantime, Bradley and Abraham's tanks have been rolled out at checkpoints and we'll be hunkered down, working hard. Please keep the Iraqis in your thoughts.