This piece is a reflection on CNA’s experiences from our work with former combatants on dealing with the past and peacebuilding activities. It is an overview of how we came to the idea to work with this very specific and very often hard-line ethnonationalist group, how this process developed and what are some of the activities undertaken within this cooperation. It is also an overview of the difficulties we cope with that come with this type of work and our sources of motivation to keep on doing it.
Ex-combatants are usually perceived as spoilers of a peace processes, as those who foster hatred, enemy images and dominant righteous narratives and who oppose the reconciliation process. And this stereotype is not without reason, as combatants usually are at the helm of authoritative regimes after wars. But that makes it even more important to search for ways to engage these people in peacebuilding activities. Ex-combatants committed to peacebuilding have enormous potential for deconstructing enemy images and for reducing rifts of fear and hatred produced by violence… >>
