APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 13 Integrating Principles and Practices in Somaliland 13 • Restitution of all that was lost by both parties is paid (i.e., each side compensates the other for all loss of material property). • Both clans are told by the ergo to forgive and forget about all loss of life (i.e., both sides should forget the men they have lost in the fighting for the sake of peace). In long-term conflicts, when the death toll is great on both sides, blood compensation is not paid to either clan. • After comparing the deaths of each side, agreement on payment is reached where only the extra deaths are compensated for (e.g., if one clan lost twentythree men and the other twenty-five, blood compensation would be paid for only two men). 3. Harmonization of relationships follows and the conflict is transformed. Transformative practices in this intervention include the use of a third party committee—an ergo composed of elders known by both clans but not directly involved in the conflict. Their engagement is respected by the fighting clans and provides the two sides space to begin negotiations to stop the violence. The ergo acts as the initial bridge between the clans and then develops another one, comprised of fifty elders from each community. These elders swear that there will be no fighting during the initial talks. Their honesty and wisdom and the respect given them by clan members and society in general is enough to guarantee the cease-fire. The next step is a listening and negotiation process that may take weeks or months but ideally ends in an agreement to stop the fighting and address material losses. Compensation for these losses (and ‘extra’ deaths) is then determined. Through a more detailed transformative lens, the above practices might look like this: • The ergo would encourage each side to develop a narrative of the conflict, explaining that they will not necessarily be the same but will be testament to their perspectives on the real or perceived causes of the conflict.51 How to address the causes would then be incorporated in the final peace agreement. • Rather than the often-used ‘forgive and forget’ approach to the loss of life, the process established by the ergo would include sharing the pain of the loss of loved ones and other members of the clan. This might involve a ritual for remembering the dead, reminding both clans how their religious or customary traditions deal with such loss, and encouraging them to draw from (and further develop) these traditions to acknowledge the losses on both sides.52 • The ergo would help the clans determine how they want to communicate in the future to prevent conflict from escalating into violence, that is, determining what new mechanisms they could put in place to maintain peace. • The ergo would encourage the clans to determine if there are new social, political, legal, or economic structures required to meet both sides’ needs. These might include structures identified from the clans’ narratives or ones they have been aware of for some time. Along with new means of communication, these new or revised structures could help prevent future violence. 51. A. Puljek Shank and R. Puljek Shank, ‘The contribution of trauma healing to peacebuilding in southeast Europe’ in Hart, Peacebuilding in Traumatized Societies. 52. L. Schirch, Rituals and Symbols in Peacebuilding (Bloomfield, Connecticut, Kumarian Press, 2005); C. Yoder, The Little Book of Trauma Healing (Intercourse, Pennsylvania, Good Books, 2005).