December 10, 2015

Justice needed to heal wounds

National reconciliation is a prerequisite to “national unity” in countries beset with political problems. In Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah's proposals for national unification started in 1987 and ended early in the 1990s to stop the Afghan civil war which had haunted the country since 1978 after the Saur Revolution. At the national reconciliation meeting they came to the conclusion that the Soviet armed forces in Afghanistan should withdraw.

Another example is the so-called national reconciliation in Zimbabwe after it gained independence in 1980. Zimbabwe tried three times for national reconciliation after 32 years of independence on April 18, 2012. However, the outcome was unsatisfactory. More than 30,000 people died while fighting for independence and the violence continues today. However, an agreement of sorts was reached between the tribes.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said after he was elected for the first time: “If yesterday I fought as an enemy, today you have become a friend. If yesterday you hated me, today you cannot avoid the love that binds you to me, and me to you." (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)

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