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Conflict transformation 
has been introduced by John Paul Lederach of the Eastern 
Mennonite School of peace building. It is assumed that this goes beyond conflict" resolution to 
build longer standing relationships through a process of change in perceptions and attitudes of 
parties. The aim of conflict transformation is to change the parties, their relationships and the 
conditions that created the conflict (Miall 
et ai, 
2001). Conflict transformation entails the corning 
into being of new situations involving conflict issues, perceptions, relationships and 
communication patterns (Jeong, 2(00). 
John Lederach (1995) sees conflict transformation as change. It can be seen descriptively 
in the changes created by social conflict, and prescriptively in the deliberate intervention by third 
parties to create change. Conflict transformation takes place at different levels and has a number 
of dimensions. At the personal level, it involves emotional, perceptual and spiritual aspects of 
change desired for the individual. It also affects relationships touching on communication between 
parties that needs to change to positively affect poorly functioning communication. Change also 
needs to affect structures that generate conflict through deprivation, exclusion and other forms of 
injustice. It also seeks to understand cultural patterns and values of parties. 
Conflict suppression 
is used to portray the unwillingness of more powerful parties, or 
stronger interveners who have the ability to transform or manage a conflict situation, to take 
necessary measures leading to "the management or resolution of the conflict. Instead, they use 
instruments of power or force to push away the issues under the carpet or to impose a solution 
that is not sustainable and with which the parties are not satisfied. This happens in unequal 
relationships. Governments and repressive regimes are usually guilty of this situation by declining 
to take appropriate decisions as and when due, or trying to lord it over others, leading to protracted 

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conflicts. Sometimes, the state uses its coercive apparatus to suppress conflicts, but this cannot 
be sustainable.