Conflict Management through African Indigenous Institutions: A Study of the Anyuaa Community

Abstract

Traditional African societies are closely attached with deep-rooted cultural facts and elders play a major roles tosolve problems, create strategies and shape local visions based on skills and wisdoms. To do this, they use their pastexperience and knowledge which transmit from generation to generation. That accumulated knowledge of elders areindigenous knowledge which cultivated from the local community. Therefore, elders apply their indigenousknowledge for development planning as well as solving social problems. To obtain the purpose of this paper, theauthor selected the Anyuaa society from East Africa who are living in Ethiopia and South Sudan along the border viaGambella. They have traditional institutions known as Nyieye and Kwaaro to implement indigenous knowledge inorder to handling social problems including conflicts. Thus, in the body the paper, the concepts of indigenousknowledge, conflict resolution, roles of indigenous knowledge in conflict resolution, Anyuaa's traditional institutionssuch as the Noblship (Nyieya) and the headman (Kwaaro) including their conflict resolution process, compensationand purification are briefly discussed. The discussion supported by pictures that help us easily to understand therelevant linkage of indigenous knowledge to conflict resolution. Finally, conclusion is forwarded to accentuate howthe African traditional institutions play their role to manage conflicts through their indigenous knowledge.