Merging Ethiopian Wise-Counsel Mediation and Facilitative ...

Stage 5: Loss of FaceSo far, the attacks were aimed at the competences of the other side (unskilled, old-fashioned, simple-minded, etc.). Next, the partiesstart to question each other's moral integrity. They start to think that the other side is not just stupid and incompetent,—they are criminal,ill-minded, liars, traitors or evil. That is, they lose their human face. The party who thinks so will search for evidence and once they findit, they'll present it publically. Usually the reaction of the attacked party is very strong. In retaliation, they will try to prove that it is thosewho accuse them who are the criminal liars, so they'll undertake reciprocal action to "even the score". The original conflict issues arecompletely forgotten. It's all about values now: "We cannot cooperate with murderers! We have to cast them out!"Sample case: The GC has also started to build a school. One night, there happens to be a fire and all the timber gets burned. They are outraged:"OC lit the fire! They are arsonists! Criminals! People could have been killed and they wouldn't have minded! This shows how evil theyreally are!"OC' reaction: "No, they are liars! They lit the fire themselves just to accuse us! One month ago, a girl was raped by one of them. They area real threat! How blind and naive have we been not to recognise earlier how dangerous they are! We must not cooperate any longer!"Earlier on, GC and OC would have made a joint effort to find the rapist and the arsonist and punish the culprits no matter whichcommunity they were from. But at this stage of escalation, such incidents are perceived as a revelation of the "true nature" of the otherside and are used to mobilise the population for revenge.??82 Mediation Trainer’s Manual