peace-building – prior to any decision being made about the nature of any accountability process. As was stated in the Recommendations: Prior to the establishment of these mechanisms there must be an extensive process of consultation with the victims and the broader community about the mechanisms and the sort of persons who should be made responsible for operating them. Civic organizations and the churches should assist in this process. Such a comprehensive consultation process will clearly take time, probably no less than 18 months (and ideally open-ended), and the involvement of the communities in determining the future response to the past may have a salutary effect on minimising retributive violence. Dealing with complex emergenciesiii A complex emergency requires a strong and sustained humanitarian response, and any programme should adopt as a framework the following principlesiv: The co-ordination of mental health care; Good basic assessment of the problems and the establishment of a monitoring process; Implementation of an early intervention phase; Utilisationof the de-facto mental health system; Emphasis on training and education; Implementation, management and monitoring of a culturally competent system of care; Stress on ethics and community participation; Care to prevent negative mental health consequences in mental health providers; Commitment to outcome assessment and research. These principles can be applied within a variety of different approaches, but whichever approaches are used they should be guided by these principles. Zimbabwe is fortunate in that approaches to dealing with the aftermath of complex emergencies have been developed locally over the years, and these can be used again in dealing with the current situationv. Developing a community response to trauma Although it will be imperative for the capacity of the state health services to be improved, this will obviously be a long-term process, and there is need for an immediate response. This can only be effected by using the existing resources within the communities such as they may be. As pointed out by Mollica et al vi, this needs to follow what is termed the “psychosocial” approach: The psychosocial approach suggests that although people are affected in many ways, three areas in particular are affected: human capacity (ie, skills, knowledge, and capabilities), social ecology (social connectedness and networks), and culture and values. People need support to enhance both their own and the community’s psychosocial well-being by strengthening each of these areas. There are a number of approaches that can be utilised here that have already shown some efficacy with older populations of survivorsvii. One more recent approach that shows considerable promise, and has a fair track record is termed the “Tree of Life”. The Tree of Life is a healing and empowerment workshop that combines the concepts of story telling, healing of the spirit, reconnecting with the body and re-establishing a sense of self-esteem and communityviii. This process was developed from traditional ways of dealing with difficult issues in communities amongst the Native Americans, and shares common features with many similar circle processes ix. It is carried out over a period of two to three days with a group living and sharing meals together. During the course of the workshops, it was discovered that the victims are more at ease when they are all from the same community rather than a group of strangers, this allows them to gain the trust and respect sooner rather than later. The approach can easily be taught to survivors, results in the formation of small group affiliations, and can form the basis of cohesive groups around which other activities can be implemented. With the enormous displacements and political polarisation that have taken place over the past none years, it cannot be