Poems for Peace
In the form of a poem, one manuscript from Timbuktu prescribes the upholding of peace as the first condition of good governance
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The upholding of peace and its restoration is the first condition of good governance.
It comes as no surprise then that this should also concern the resolution of conflicts, based on the often quoted passage of the Quran (49:9) that insists “if two groups of believers fight each other, make peace between them”.
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The following manuscript, Enlightening Advice to Show the Villainy of Conflict Between Believers by Omar Saidou Tall (d. 1864) is a recommendation in the form of a poem and one of the recipes for traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution.
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The manuscript cites the good acts carried out by Omar Saidou Tall on his return from pilgrimage in putting an end to the conflict triggered between the Sokoto and Borno kingdoms in Hausa lands.
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Enlightening Advice to Show the Villainy of Conflict
“We were engaged there by the grace of God ... as far as the Hausa lands, where we met the emir, his scholars, and nobles. There, we came to realize that there was a terrible dispute between them and the Emir of Borno, which saddened us deeply...
... but we could not speak of it with the Emir of the Hausa, nor undertake any reconciliation despite being certain that, if we had spoken to him about it, he would have reacted positively.
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When we decided to seize this great honor and immense benefit, we realized that a speech would not allow us to fully achieve our objective.
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We then set about composing this treatise in verse, beginning each line with a letter from the two following verses:
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1 (And if two groups of believers fight each other, make peace between them; but if one rebels against the other, fight against the one that rebels until it submits to God’s command;
if he bows, make peace between them with justice and be equitable. God loves those who are equitable).
2 (Believers are but brothers. Make peace between your brethren and fear God so that you may receive mercy).”
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This excerpt demonstrates, among other things, that the use of a mediator to resolve a conflict is a concept that has been deeply rooted in West African culture for at least three hundred years.
