Ubuntu - 'I am, because we are' - Andrew Mutambo, on his studies in Peace and Combating Conflicts

Andrew Mutambo will be known to recent CMCPT visitors to Mufulira. A Biomedical Technologist at Malcolm Watson hospital, in his spare time he is taking a course on Peace Studies at Copper-belt University in Kitwe.

With Zambia until recently one of the most peaceful countries on the continent of Africa, Andrew believes the dangers of conflict are all too prevalent. His feeling is that if only we spent the same time on making peace as war, the world would be a better place.

But how to resolve conflict? This is a science not just an aspiration, and to this end Andrew has taken a course in ‘Conflict Prevention & Human Rights’ and a ‘Foundation Course in Peace Conflict Studies’.

Andrew’s work focuses on reconnecting with processes that pre-date colonialism. It includes the over-arching philosophy of Ubuntu – the concept of inter-dependence and humanity, African style. In this case, summed up with the phrase ‘I am, because we are’. Too complex to fully summarise here, it was a concept that was incarnated in the Desmond Tutu ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ at the end of the apartheid era. If a real world example of African conflict resolution is required, then surely this is it.

Another concept being actively used is Gacaca, a Rwandan system of restorative justice, administered at community level in the presence of community members. With the enormity of the 1994 genocide, no Western court system could have coped with the volume of evidence required. Therefore, this system, which involved confession followed by a ceremony and traditional libation as a gesture of reconciliation, had the power of healing.

A further Ugandan belief system called Mato Oput means ‘drinking of bitter herbs’ and requires the conflicting parties to accept the bitterness of the past and promise never to taste such bitterness again.

It is clear that students such as Andrew are looking within Africa for lasting indigenous concepts rather than borrowing ideas from the West. Members of CMCPT who wish to learn more about Andrew's work should contact the under-signed and I will be able to ask Andrew to send you his report.

Anthony Lipmann