Aladimma: A Model for True and Lasting Post-Nigeria/Biafra War Reconciliation

Résumé

In a world that is bedeviled with constant conflicts and wars, the need for a model of conflict resolution that can produce a lasting peace and reconciliation cannot be over emphasized. While the Western world focuses on retributive justice in conflict resolutions, Africans pay more attention to restorative justice. The aim is to reconcile and restore a lasting peace between the conflicting parties. Africans, therefore, have models of conflict resolution like palaver, ubuntu, and aladimma for example, that focus on reconciling conflicting parties and restoring severed relationships in such a manner that the conflicting parties go away at the end not as enemies, but friends without at the same time letting the perpetrators get away with impunity. This paper explores the concept and rite of aladimma, an Igbo process of reconciliation. It avows to its functionality and proposes it as a model for a true and lasting post-Nigeria/Biafra warreconciliation. It gives a brief recommendation on how to go about it.