Keywords
Lodger head
Pragmatic approach
Peace building
Conflict
Alesi
Ochon
Communities
Cross River State. 
Abstract
This paper provides a pragmatic approach to peacebuilding between rural communities engaged in conflict with common boundaries. The conflict between the Alesi community in Ikom L.G.A and the Ochon community of Obubra L.G.A in Cross River State was a land ownership tussle and boundary claims, and this has become a recurrent event in the state during planting seasons. This has often claimed lives and destroyed property worth millions of Naira. The paper objectives are: to identify causes and sources of conflict between rural communities of Cross River State, identify pragmatic peace-building approaches to warring communities, examine the conflict timeline in the state from 2020 to 2025, and make policy recommendations for the management of conflict between warring communities. The paper adopted the human needs theory (HNT) expanded in social conflict by John Burton (1997), which revealed that parties or actors are always engaged in conflict whenever their needs are threatened and not met. Methodologically, a descriptive survey research design was adopted, with data collected from secondary sources. The pragmatic approaches to peace building identified were: community-based initiative, neutrality of third-party intervention measures, punitive sanctions of perpetrators, empowering affected communities and incorporation of Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service (NHFSS). The recommendations were that stakeholders in affected areas should collaborate with the government and security agencies, and conflicts at early warning signs should be given critical attention to avert escalation.
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