Understanding and Launching a Peace Process

Hosted by Dr Paul R Williams for Public International Law & Policy Group Summer School.

Anatomy in the peace process: Bob Perito

Angola - A peace agreement was reached due to ongoing conflict and disputes. The Accord aimed to bring peace and end apartheid in Africa, obtain independence for Nambia and bring an end to civil war in Angola.

Agreement of the Angola Accords - Provision for a ceasefire. Responsible for supervising the implementation of the peace process. Demobilisation of troops on both sides. Recognise the legitimacy of the Angolan government and president. New National Army was never mentioned.

Question of thought - How do Western governments conduct peace negotiations?

Purpose of mediators - Facilitate the building of good faith or what the parties do to demonstrate good faith to the other party.

Rule of law - Provides a framework for democratic governance. The issue is organised crime and corruption. A government should sufficiently create durable peace.

Context-specific peacebuilding strategies: Dr Patrick Maluki

Inclusive to ensure cognition and ownership by different parties. Creating an environment for negotiations. Context-specific analysis. Diplomatic skills of how to approach conflict management.

Negotiating Justice: Kate Gibson

There are mechanisms of justice to build durable peace. Negotiation of questions relating to justice and finding solutions.

International Criminal Trials - The main driver is that it provides peace by delivering justice. Legitimate and fair premises. Prosecutions can be one-sided, with political influence and faulty actions within conflict. Do the beneficiaries of international justice think that the trials have contributed to peace? This depends upon independence and quality of justice.

Utility of indictments - Facilitation of peace. Robust response to state accountability. States do not want to fund international and universal issues. Investigative mechanisms are needed for fact-finding inquiries.

Amnesty v Justice - International tribunals and statutes of the international courts. Cannot give a guarantee of non-prosecution; it is the obligation of states to sign the conventions and agreements. Understand and give primacy to the views of people who are affected by crimes.

Defacto amnesties - How can we perform aspects of international justice to issuing indictments? Arrest warrants. Fractures and weakness of international law due to lack of universal state support. Trials at the Hague should be seen as credible and gaining the support of other states.

Deterrence of crimes - Process of indictments of confirmation of charges. Creating a historical record. Judgements are evidence.

Getting parties to the table: Rick Lorenz

Ceasefire management - Parties coordinate and implement terms. Fairly brief by parties being actively engaged. Provide the foundation for the next step. Asymmetry means one party has a clear military advantage.

Mechanisms - Joint military agencies or commissions. Building trust through intelligence and operation commands. Challenges to sustain process: lack of military control and experience, violation of understanding, and multibodies.

Third parties - Needed to create a pathway for negotiations.

Technology - Drone surveillance. Acoustic sensors.

When is it right to a ceasefire? - Party achieving some level of advantage and their interests are being met. Parties now aim for outright victory.

Reduction measures - Ceasefire, monitoring and verification. Language is powerful. Provision for safe movement of civilians and release of refugees. Restriction on deployment of weapons, zone of separation, numerical limit on troops.

Impact on the future - Lack of trust. What will contribute to a more permanent ceasefire agreement? Conditions on the ground are always going to change. Basic agreement with dates on specific things.

Understanding Multidimensional Complex Peace Negotiations: Bernanemeskei Nega, Professor Milena Sterio, Heba Bawaien, Dr Paul R Williams

Juba Peace Negotiations: Effort to address deep-rooted conflict in Sudan. Examine the historical context that led to commencement. Legacy of colonial rule, exerting control and implementing divisive policies. There were visible distinctions between the North and South. The independence declaration did not bring peace: perpetrated economic disparities, political marginalisation and armed resistance. Civil wars were amounting to wealth and oil. The revolution was led by widespread frustration over economic hardship, political repression and social injustices.

End armed conflict, seize hostilities, and integrate rebel groups into the political process. Implementation and root cause of the problem.

Conventional process: Multidimensional and complex. Different parties represented different geographical locations. The national level covers power sharing, administration of the capital, national constitutional conference and judicial reform. Regional governance covers transnational justice, natural resources, institutional reform, development of human rights and security issues.

Key challenges: Tight deadline of six months. Build trust to show it is a good venue for negotiations. Aim to bring together to get the consent of all parties. UN Facilitation and support for logistical purposes.

Regional actor's role: South Sudan held meditated negotiations. Other countries acted as witnesses. Hybrid operation from the African Union.

International Community: Hybrid operations supported. Lack of comprehensive inclusion of relevant actors and geographical locations. Increasing representation of the civilian actors. Absence of significant funding.

Mediator role: Peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance. Groups critical of internal placement. Refugees. Financial constraints and logistics differences, more could have been done.

Women participation: Structural setup of negotiations amounts to around 10%. That is not translated into power and influence. Fragmented process. Undermined by gender norms and mobilisation of women. Unevenly distributed by gender-specific provisions.

Until the next Legal Thought,

Elicia Maxwell