By Amin Kef Sesay
Based on the spirit of the Bintumani III, National peace and cohesion conference that was called for by His Excellency President Bio in May 2019, political dialogue, which refers to a wide range of activities, from high-level negotiations to mediation to community attempts at reconciliation, has to take place between the country’s two main political protagonists – APC and SLPP – on a regular, consistent basis in order for the peace and development of the country not to continue to stand on shaky grounds.
The parameters are that the dialogue must be political in nature and aimed at addressing threats in a society which can cause a lapse or relapse into violent conflict as has been seen frequently in some parts of the country where political tensions run high since the end of the March 2018 elections.
In the APC/SLPP context, the objective of political dialogue is to achieve practical and peaceful solutions to problems.
At a deeper level, the aim is to address conflict drivers and foster reconciliation, build a greater national consensus and social cohesion, and define a shared vision of the future.
What makes genuinely political dialogue difficult in this country is mainly because regular State institutions are not functioning properly because they have been compromised by political bias, corruption, and inefficiency.
The role of political dialogue in such contexts is to strengthen the legitimacy of institutions by building consensus on and trust in their proper functioning.
As a result, political dialogue in all its forms plays an indispensable role in efforts by national actors and the international community to respond to violent conflicts and to build national vision in fragile contexts.
It must take place among national actors at all levels of society; among international actors; and between the international community and national actors. Four main types of dialogue have been identified:
- High-level or summit dialogues involving the top leadership of contending sections of the population. These dialogues are often initiated or mediated by the international community. These are high-risk events, with much at stake.
- (ii) Track Two interventions by civil society organizations that provide discreet and relatively low-risk opportunities to explore options, build trust and skill in the process of dialogue.
- (iii) Political dialogue that takes place as an indispensable aspect of planning for peacebuilding, State-building and development. It is increasingly, but not yet sufficiently, understood that such planning has to be driven by political dialogue.
- (iv) Multi-level dialogue, where dialogue takes place at various levels of society in an effort to engage citizens in building sufficient national consensus on critical challenges.
These four approaches are not mutually exclusive, rather complementary. Each type has its advantages and limitations. It is often advisable to pursue different types of dialogue in parallel, on the condition that they pursue the same overall objectives and are not contradictory.
The preconditions for successful dialogue are:
- Adequate preparation:
− Conducting an objective, reliable analysis of the conflict and parties’ interests and fears.
− Learning lessons from past experiences, particularly the reasons for past failures.
− Designing an appropriate process; clarifying and allocating roles of different support actors.
− Setting up a support structure to deal with funding, logistical arrangements and financial management.
− Pre-mediation consultation to ensure sufficient buy-in of all parties into the process.
− Planning an appropriate communication strategy with the Press.
- Credible facilitation. It is crucial to have a skilled facilitator that all parties accept and feel comfortable with in order to make the process as fair and even-handed as possible.
- Sufficient political commitment. Political will is important for the dialogue to reach inclusive agreements; and for effective implementation. Political commitment is influenced by internal and external political pressure; but is strongest when participating parties enjoy a sense of ownership of the dialogue process.
- Collective leadership capability. A critical factor determining the success of dialogue is the capability of leaders to form coalitions across political and social divides in order to implement decisions that have been made through the dialogue process. Where the capability to form such coalitions does not exist, little can be expected from dialogue in terms of lasting results.
- Adequate inclusion. The aspect of inclusion is of critical importance because exclusion is often a major cause of conflict. It is in most cases a contentious issue; and in reality difficult to satisfy all. It is, however, necessary to be “inclusive enough” to safeguard the legitimacy of decisions. The inclusion of women is crucial as the political dialogue process can be a window of opportunity for addressing structural inequalities.
