Use phonesto halt riots

Community leaders and negotiators from as far afield as Kosovo, Palestine and Kurdistan were told how mobile phones helped stop interface clashes between Protestants and Catholics in Londonderry.

They were also told of the fragility of the peace as demonstrated by the succession of the publication of the Saville Report by an Óglaigh na hÉireann bomb attack on the Strand Road PSNI station during the summer of 2010.

The new mobile phone network is now being rolled out at various interfaces across Belfast, Beirut, Kirkuk, Kaduna, Nicosia, Jerusalem, Haifa, Mitte, Mitrovicë/Kosovska Mitrovica, Mostar, Nicosia, and Ramallah in the wake of the conference in Londonderry last May.

The revelation is contained in a new report on the Forum for Cities in Transition (FCT) conference entitled ‘Bridging the Gap.’

The report claims the people of Londonderry were the ultimate beneficiaries of the conference which resulted in £500k in additional spending.

Its authors claim one of the “most important benefits” of the conference was that it happened at all.

It states: “The exposure to international delegates, the benefits from associated practically based projects, potential local business initiatives, media coverage and awareness raising all served to show the city’s residents tangible benefits and greater pride in their city.”

The authors also argue there were tangible benefits with the event placing a spotlight on “a relatively remote but leading city on the edge of Europe.”

Equally, it provided a useful event platform in anticipation of larger events during Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013, for example.

There were also “immediate and longer term economic benefits, from conference activity itself (circa £500k additional spending) and ancillary benefits such as increased potential for business investment, study exchanges and international consultancy work.”

The report also claims many practical outcomes resulted with lasting effects including a link up between the local PSNI and the Kosovo Police Service.

There has also been greater cooperation between the local PSNI and An Garda Síochána in Donegal and youth organisations in other conflict zones have been invited to visit Londonderry as guest speakers.

Business, educational, sports/leisure and municipal networks across the participating cities have also been developed.

And the report says conflict resolution techniques proven to have worked in Londonderry have been delivered to other Forum cities. This includes the interface mobile phone network.

“An example of this is the distribution of mobile phones to a network of community leaders to head off intercommunal flare-ups as well as the identification nand coaching of individuals from one community allowed to communicate and work within another communities local programmes,” the report states.

It concludes that one of the most important benefits was simply that the conference happened at all and refers to violence past and violence present in Londonderry.

It points out how delegates from Londonderry had just returned from the 2010 conference in Kosovo when the publication of the Saville Report into the events of Bloody Sunday, 1972, was followed not long after by the Óglaigh na hÉireann bombing of the Strand Road PSNI station.

“The value of the Forum for Cities in Transition is building relationships and trust were shown starkly in the summer of 2010. Delegates from the inaugural FCT conference in Mitrovicë/Kosovska Mitrovica.

“In June of that year the Saville report into the events of Bloody Sunday was released. The following August a car bomb was placed outside a city centre PSNI station.

“The way in which different parts of the community respond to such events is vitally important - a response can either diffuse tension or increase it.

“That the FCT facilitated the growth of a new network relationships helped in the process of the city finding a united constructive voice, one that ultimately helps to build peace.”