The Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) has held a three-day sensitisation workshop on peaceful coexistence for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living at camps in Gombe State.
North East Trust reports that there are no fewer than 39,202 IDPs living in various communities across the 11 LGAs of the state.
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Speaking at the workshop, the Head of Internal Conflict Resolution and Prevention, Mrs Ladi Hepzibah Achanya, said the training was organised for the IDPs on peace education – abiding by the law and living peacefully with host communities.
She said the participants were provided with psychological healing training because of their trauma of being removed from their ancestral home and having to share facilities with others at their respective camps.
She said: “We are here to bring the message of peace, trust and relationship cultivation so that they can live together peacefully with the host communities as IDPs to avoid re-occurrence of conflict.
“We also talk to them about stigmatisation to encourage them to live comfortably with their new identity.
“In a nutshell, we are trying to promote the culture of peace and peaceful coexistence between the IDPs and the host communities,” she said.
Mrs Achanya added that IDPs, currently taking refuge in three communities of Balanga LGA, were selected for the pilot project.
She said a Pilot Peace Clinic was constituted at the end of the training, “for them to have synergy and be able to step down the training to the other IDPs”.
She said the IDPs were targeted because they could constitute a problem having come from different communities with cultures and ideologies different from that of their host communities.
“We are trying to reduce the issue of fighting or retaliation, so we are encouraging them to be peaceful wherever they are.
“Being a pilot project, we would soon extend it to other segment of the society,” Achanya added.
