Conflict resolution and reconciliation
Choosing to engage: armed groups and peace processes
Engaging armed groups in peace processes
Authors:
Publisher:
Conciliation Resources , 2009
This brief summarises important issues to consider on how best to engage armed groups in peace processes. It also presents analysis and 12 case studies of first-hand experience in peace negotiations by intermediaries and leading figures involved in armed groups. The paper gives details of issues such as:
- Responsibility to protect: local populations bear the brunt of fighting in most of today’s armed conflicts
- Make peace by talking with your enemies: experience suggests that exclusively military solutions to conflict are inadequate to make lasting peace
- Terms of engagement: engagement does not equate to appeasement or complicity in violence
- Multiple types of intermediaries: representatives of intergovernmental organizations and states often have clear mandates to serve as intermediaries in peace processes
- Humanitarian engagement: can offer a less divisive entry point to talk to armed groups than potentially thornier security and political issues
- Choosing to talk: strategic factors in armed groups’ decision-making
- Indicators of opportunities and constraints.
Conclusions:
- Dialogue with armed groups is key to peace processes that can end violent conflict, protect populations and address underlying conflict issues
- Engagement can take many forms, from unofficial contact to substantive negotiations, involving various third parties
- Proscription of armed groups is a blunt instrument and can be counterproductive
- Improved interaction and cooperation between governmental and unofficial intermediaries would benefit all parties pursuing effective engagement strategies.
