Participatory Workshop on Internal Armed Conflict and Prospects for Peace-Building

With a view of contributing to the process of resolving the seven-year-old armed conflict in Nepal from theoretical as well as practical ways, the National Peace Campaign (NPC) organized participatory workshops from 7-9 January 2003 in Pokhara and on 25 January 2003 in Kathmandu. Leaders of major political parties in Nepal took part in the workshops. Though the delegates were involved in the leadership of different political parties, they were invited on a personal capacity. The modality of the workshop was organized by considering that personal experiences of the politicians would be more important than their party’s official lines and that they could contribute actively in the campaign for transforming conflict. The two-night, three day workshop (7 - 9 January 2003) was conducted in an exclusive atmosphere. Thanks to the workshop, the political leaders of different political parties – from different ideological and philosophical backgrounds-- not only agreed on minimum points to view the conflict in Nepal, they also agreed that a common strategy could be formulated within the common framework as outlined in the Pokhara workshop. In fact, it is probably the first time that representatives of the political parties were engaged in a debate, albeit at a personal level, with respect to the on-going conflict in Nepal in this manner.

Senior politicians from major political parties in Nepal participated enthusiastically in the 3-day program. Intensive brainstorming sessions were held where participants learned and got trained from the facilitators of National Peace Campaign. Leaders from respective parties engaged in broad-based dialogue with each other on the present scenario of Nepal.

Major issues discussed during program were:

• Conflict Analysis
• Obstacles to the Forthcoming Dialogue
• Conflict Management Skills
• Reasons for the Failure of Dialogue
• Present & Possible Political Scenarios
• Peace-building

The workshop was conducted in the participatory approach method. The inaugural function commenced with the introductory remarks by Mr. Shiva Hari Dahal, executive director of the National Peace Campaign. Mr. Dahal said that the workshop had been organized with the objective of identifying processes for conflict resolution, to make the common points and common standings of the political parties public and to formulate guiding principles for the resolution of the conflict. Then the participants were requested to formulate future programs to this end on their own.