Ireland organizes int'l conference for conflict resolution

Dr. Martin McAleese, seen here with his wife, Irish President Mary McAleese, is the organizer of October's conference

BELFAST (Tiraspol Times) - An international conference aimed at conflict resolution will take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, next month, with the participation of five nationalities or national sub-groups. The October 11 conference is sponsored by a group of Irish community leaders led by Martin McAleese, the husband of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese.

Representatives from Moldova and Pridnestrovie, also known as Transnistria or Transdniester, are due to attend,
along with delegations from Israel, Palestine, and groups from the troubles in Northern Ireland. Chief among the participants will be the Ulster Defence Association, UDA, a loyalist paramilitary organization in Northern Ireland which will discuss political strategy and ways to demobilize at the international conference in Belfast. In a bid to reduce violence in the region, the group is in the process of converting their armed resistance into a merely political struggle fought for votes and influence through the ballot box.

" - They hope to learn from us," says a representative of the government in Tiraspol, pointing to last week's peaceful independence referendum where nine out of ten voters rejected unification with Moldova.
" - And of course, we hope to learn from them. We want to learn what works and what doesn't, and we want above all to make sure that we don't get involved in another war with Moldova. Only if they invade us again, as they did in 1992, will we take up arms. Otherwise our quest for recognized statehood is peaceful and democratic and it will stay that way until we get heard."

Here, a haven of calm compared to Northern Ireland

Socially coherent, Transdniester is a haven of calm compared to Northern Ireland where more than 3,500 people lost their lives in recent years of sectarian violence involving paramilitary organisations, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the British Army and others.

Not so in the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (its official name) where three main ethnic groups live in peaceful harmony and where all three groups agree on the need for independence. In Transdniester, not even the ethnic Moldovans want to join with Moldova, with the majority of the community expressing a preference for staying the course and pursuing recognized statehood as an independent country. Last week, leaders of the three main ethnic communities held a joint press conference in Tiraspol, the country's capital, pledging unity towards the shared goal of independent statehood. This will not become another Bosnia, promised the three sides.

For all of Pridnestrovie's 16 year existence, much of the top leadership has been in the hands of ethnic Moldovans. Right from the start, in 1990, the vice-president, the chairman of Parliament, the minister of the interior, the minister of defense, and many of the members of parliament where ethnically Moldovan.

Opinion polls and other indicators show a massive support for independence among all ethnic groups. While there are of course exceptions - as in every democracy - they represent a distinct minority. The results of the 17 September referendum had more than 94% reject unification with Moldova in an overwhelming independence vote where turnout was nearly 80%.

The lesson from Tiraspol: Ballots, not bullets

There has never been any civil war or deaths caused by fighting between factions within Transdniester. The only deaths in the independence struggle were caused by fighting against outside forces when Moldova attempted to impose its will on the fiercely independent country in a brief war in 1992. After repelling Moldova, a ceasefire was signed which has held until today, with no loss of lives ever since.

The international conference on October 11 will aim at sharing experience and exploring new ways for conflict resolution by enabling representatives from one part of the world to share experiences with other parts of the world.

According to The Sunday Times of London, some loyalists in Northern Ireland feel an affinity with Transdniester, which is self-governing and meet all the requirements for statehood but which is not yet internationally recognised as a state. The conference counts with government support but not all Ulster loyalists are eager to put down their weapons and seek conflict resolution in a peaceful way, as Transdniester is doing. Aine de Baroid, an Irish government diplomat who had been working on the loyalist project with McAleese, had to leave Belfast after loyalist threats. Now, after seeing the success of PMR's massively attended independence referendum last week, the organizers hope that the representatives from Tiraspol will be able to teach Northern Ireland a thing or two about how to pursue their political goals with ballots, not bullets.

See also:
» No to Bosnia: Ethnic groups agree on democratic independence course