SOUTH AFRICA: Amnesty and sharing of stories by survivors have international relevance, Joe Humphreys hears in Pretoria, South Africa
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has attracted many an imitator. Panama, East Timor and, most recently, Liberia have set up similar inquiries to help resolve conflict.
But what about Northern Ireland? Would a truth commission help, and if so, what form should it take? Fr SeáO'Leary of the Pretoria-based Denis Hurley Peace Institute has reflected on the issue more than most. A Catholic priest who lived through the collapse of the apartheid regime and worked closely with the TRC under the local Bishop's Conference, he has since 1996 hosted countless fact-finding delegations from Northern Ireland.
While there was widespread support for the notion of a truth commission in the North, he said, the big doubt was whether people would testify before it.
In South Africa, the carrot of amnesty was dangled before human rights abusers to encourage full disclosure of the facts. But what incentive would there be to speak in Northern Ireland where paramilitaries have already received a pardon of sorts through early prison release, and where British security forces - let alone their political masters - face little threat of prosecution?
"No one would ask for amnesty in the North," said Fr O'Leary, who noted that even the TRC had difficulty getting the right people to testify.
"I think the majority of [South African] police lied. But what upset people the most was that those who gave the orders did not come forward. There is no way F W de Klerk, for example, did not know what was going on.
"Parallel that with Northern Ireland, and ask, say, just how much blood there is on the hands of prime ministers. How much did they know? They are certainly not going to come forward to testify."
His verdict seems borne out by recent experiences with tribunals of inquiry in Ireland. The British government's non-co-operation with the Dublin and Monaghan bombings inquiry, and a reluctance on the part of senior Sinn Féin politicians to testify before the Bloody Sunday inquiry, do not auger well for a more general truth commission.
Fr O'Leary suggested the obstacle could be overcome by setting up a survivor-led "story-telling" commission that would also address the question of reparation. While such a commission might not be as successful as the TRC in finding out the truth, it could play an important rehabilitative role for survivors.
"One good thing about the TRC was the way you could bring your story to people who had similar stories. At the commission, survivors healed themselves to an extent."
The issue may come into sharper focus in the coming weeks when the Belfast-based cross-community group Healing Through Remembering (HTR) publishes a discussion document on "truth-recovery".
The group's co-ordinator, Kate Turner, said it would be setting out in detail a range of options, from a "top-down" process like the TRC to "simply doing nothing", in the hope of generating a "more nuanced debate" about the issue.
"The first question we should ask is, 'How should this society deal with the past?', not 'Should this society have a truth commission?'," said Brandon Hamber, a South African-born consultant to the group who, 10 years ago, worked with victims testifying before his home country's commission.
He said the South African model might not suit Northern Ireland, and suggested a grass-roots process that memorialised the victims of the Troubles might better aid reconciliation.
Truth commissions carried a risk of stirring up emotions and even sparking violence, he added, although "in most countries where commissions have been set up that did not happen, and rather it was one of the mechanisms that helped to stabilise things".
A truth commission might also help to "complicate" the past, said Mr Hamber, noting: "That is a very positive thing in a society where people are entrenched in their views. It diffuses the idea of one side being absolutely right and the other absolutely wrong." Looking at the range of countries that have supported truth commissions puts Northern Ireland in a somewhat shameful light. One of the dirtiest of wars was fought in South Africa, yet it saw little, if any, revenge killings when the "rainbow nation" was born. Former security personnel and even spy-masters today wander freely around the country, in stark contrast to the North.
Commenting on the recent murder of Denis Donaldson, one black South African told this reporter: "It's in your blood: white people don't forgive."
Ms Turner described this analysis as "way too simplistic", however. She said: "There are plenty of examples of people who have forgiven [ in the North]." But if "ordinary people" aren't the sticking point for a truth commission, then what is? Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chaired the TRC, hinted at an answer recently when he highlighted the calibre of politician in South Africa a decade ago. "Can you imagine if had come out of prison and said, 'These white people treated us badly. We are going to fix them up'? We wouldn't be sitting here today."
Mr Hamber doubted the value of making comparisons but, he admitted, "South Africa has had a much stronger set of visionary politicians on all sides. I think some politicians here [ in the North] are still struggling with the process of change, and struggling even to refer to the current situation as a compromise. 'Compromise' is not a dirty word."
Whatever the reason, he added, "there has been a more concerted effort to acknowledge and deal with the past in South Africa than in Northern Ireland".