The Local Element of Peace: The Case for Community-Based Interventions in Darfur

This article examines efforts of intervention and conflict resolution made by local formations of civil society in Darfur. Two main themes are explored here: the forms of intervention and conflict resolution offered on a local level and the argument for incorporating this local element. Although local formations in Darfur take shapes other than those recognized in western literature and societies as being ‘civil society’, recent interactions between these local formations1, the state and the international community have produced something entirely different. Efforts made by local formations in Darfur to resolve conflicts are to be introduced and critically analysed. The purpose is to clearly distinguish traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution in Darfur as well as what communities have to offer after their reformulation through interaction with the modern state and international community. The division between traditional and modern here are entirely organizational and for establishing basic conceptual clarity. The reality depicted by fieldwork for this research has been entirely complicated, which this paper seeks to highlight. The paper provides an overview of interventions and conflict resolution mechanisms by local formations in Darfur and analyses the significance of integrating them in attempts to resolve conflicts in the region1One of the main themes explored by this research has been highlighting the difference between the concept of civil society and what is being referred here as ‘local formations’ which take a different structure and functions within a different context than that of ‘civil society’.