The Mediator's Studio: Recent Episodes
An Oslo Forum podcast
What happens behind closed doors when peace agreements are negotiated? The Mediator’s Studio gives you a glimpse into the normally hidden world of peace diplomacy. Host Adam Cooper brings you first-hand stories from mediators, armed groups and governments on what it takes to end wars. The Mediator’s Studio is a podcast from the Oslo Forum, the world’s leading mediation retreat. It’s brought to you by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
British negotiator turned mediator Jonathan Powell reveals the ebb and flow of the world’s major peace processes. He takes us through secret negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland and the following decade of talks on its implementation. He drew on this experience to support the dialogue with ETA in Spain, as well as the negotiation between the Colombian government and the FARC to end Latin America’s longest civil war. Jonathan Powell shares insights from meeting conflict parties in their hideouts, as well as the lessons learned from advising leaders in Afghanistan and Myanmar.
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Former International President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and current Chair of HD’s Board, Joanne Liu provides her humanitarian insights to better inform the practice of mediation. Inspired by an MSF doctor's book she read as a teenager, she has worked as a humanitarian paediatrician in conflict zones for 30 years. Joanne Liu recounts her negotiations for humanitarian access in Yemen, her advocacy at the UN for an emergency response to Ebola, and how she stood up to the US administration after the bombing of an MSF hospital in Afghanistan. She also shares what helps her to keep faith in humanity in the face of devastating crises.
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Senior US diplomat Molly Phee reflects on her mediation and negotiation experience in the last three decades. She recalls leveraging her influence to drive parties to a peace agreement in South Sudan and takes us behind the scenes of intense negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan from 2018 to 2020. As the current US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, she discusses her approach to addressing the aftermaths of military coups in the Sahel, supporting talks in Sudan, and using creative approaches to defuse tensions in the Great Lakes region.
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Indonesia’s Foreign Minister takes stock of her country’s peacemaking initiatives over the past decade. In this episode, recorded at the Oslo Forum in June 2024, she explains how Indonesia is trying to make a difference in thorny conflicts, from Afghanistan to the Middle East and Myanmar. As the first female foreign minister of the world’s largest Muslim country, Retno Marsudi fervently advocates for the inclusion of women in diplomacy and peace processes. She shares her experience of overcoming frustration and not giving up, especially in mediating protracted conflicts.
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In his first-ever podcast, veteran mediator and head of the UN Mission in South Sudan Nicholas Haysom retraces three decades of peacemaking in Sudan, South Sudan, and Afghanistan. He recalls how his activism against Apartheid led him to become Nelson Mandela’s Chief Legal Adviser and launched his career in mediation. He reflects on why the time when peacemakers chose to talk to some and not to others has long passed. While drawing lessons that can be applied to current peace efforts, he explains how the internationalisation of intra-state conflicts has complicated conflict resolution processes.
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Recorded in June 2024 at the Oslo Forum, season 6 takes you behind the scenes of negotiations to end some of the most violent conflicts of our time. Over five episodes, prominent voices share their insights on their ways to engage with conflict parties. Guests in this season include state diplomats who navigate geopolitics in support of peace, a humanitarian paediatrician who stood up to the Obama administration, a government negotiator turned private mediator, and a veteran UN peacemaker who has gone through the thick and thin of major mediation processes.
As a Peruvian diplomat with a 25-year career at the United Nations, Alvaro de Soto has dedicated fifty years of his life to diplomacy and conflict resolution across the globe. From negotiations with Hamas and the Quartet on the Middle East to shuttling between the FMLN and the El Salvador government, Alvaro de Soto shares a tour de force account that offers crucial insights into the craft of mediation. His first-hand narrative reveals lessons learned from his experiences and mentors, highlighting the significance of temperament over technique and effective ways to publicly spotlight agreements for ensuring accountability in their implementation.
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Find out more about the Oslo Forum’s journey over the past two decades.
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South Africa’s first female deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, reflects on her journey as a member of the high-level African Union panel that facilitated the Pretoria agreement between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front. Beyond this process, she shares her experiences as the executive director of UN Women from 2013-2021, discusses her role as a female mediator, and reflects on the challenges associated with ensuring the engagement of women in peace processes in Colombia, Sudan, and South Sudan. Tracing her path as a student activist during the Apartheid era, she shares her story of finding courage and emphasises the need for perseverance to keep moving forward.
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Veteran Lebanese intelligence chief Abbas Ibrahim takes us behind the scenes of some of his most sensitive negotiations. He recalls a secret mission to a Palestinian refugee camp in the hope of diffusing tensions, and the painstaking shuttle diplomacy that eventually led to a border agreement between Lebanon and Israel. He also reveals his political aspirations, and explains why he is trusted to broker deals to free Western detainees in Syria and Iran.
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Climate mediator Nisreen Elsaim joins Adam Cooper to explore the intersection of activism and peacemaking. She recounts her role in the student uprisings that preceded the 2019 revolution in Sudan and reflects on how a shooting on campus changed her life. Now a self-confessed “climatolic,” she argues that climate mediation is crucial for conflict prevention, and looks ahead to a time when future generations won’t have to worry about climate change.
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Karim A. A. Khan KC, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), reflects on his path leading to joining the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1997 and, more recently the ICC. He shares the intricacies and dilemmas faced by the ICC in grappling with the scope of international law. He articulates his vision for the future of the ICC as an institution capable of effectively contributing to global justice.
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Find out more about the Oslo Forum’s journey over the past two decades.
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Monica Juma, National Security Advisor to the President of Kenya, reflects on her extensive career in government and shares the lessons she has learned about peacemaking. She explains the challenges that the conflict in Sudan presents to mediators. She also discusses Kenya’s role in ending the Tigray crisis in Ethiopia. Additionally, she reflects on how meeting victims of the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi affirmed the values she brings to her work.
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Find out more about the Oslo Forum’s journey over the past two decades.
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Senior Qatari diplomat Mutlaq Al-Qahtani recalls his role in the 2020 Doha Agreement between the US and the Taliban, leading to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. He reflects on his visit to Kabul in 2021 as the Taliban closed in on the city, sharing insights into his involvement in evacuating people and narrowly avoiding a bomb blast at the Kabul airport. Al Qahtani sheds light on his motivations to address the root causes of conflict.
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Find out more about the Oslo Forum’s journey over the past two decades.
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Welcome to Season 5 of The Mediator's Studio podcast.
This special season marks the 20th anniversary of the Oslo Forum in 2023 – and its importance as the place where peacemakers meet.
Over seven episodes – most of them recorded at this year’s Oslo Forum retreat – we delve into deep conversations with prominent mediators on what it takes to make peace.
Because we sat down in June 2023, the interviews were done before the conflict in Gaza began. While some episodes reflect events predating the war, we are sure the insights are as relevant as ever about seeking peace in the region.
Journalist Ghaith Abdul Ahad reflects on 20 years of reporting from conflict areas including Yemen and Afghanistan. Recalling the 2003 US invasion of Iraq that made him leave his former career as an architect, he reveals how he once talked his way into Saddam Hussein’s palace and what it’s like to sit across the table from people who committed atrocities. He also reflects on the challenges of mediation – arguing that people are often less concerned with ideological narratives than sheer survival and how armoured convoys and green zones can get in the way of real connection with people on the ground.
EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, Annette Weber, provides us with a front-row perspective on her decades-long work in the region, beginning with her time as a young researcher writing about female combatants in South Sudan and Eritrea. She reveals why she still gets goose bumps when thinking about the recent revolution in Sudan, and discusses what it’s like to sit down in the evenings with people who have been fighting each other during the day.
Former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano charts his journey from freedom fighter to head of state. He discusses his role in securing Mozambique’s independence from colonial rule and reveals why he did not want to become president after his predecessor’s sudden death in 1986. As a peacemaker, he reflects on how he convinced the Mozambican people to reconcile with former RENAMO fighters after the country’s civil war. He also shares why he introduced transcendental meditation to the military and what it’s like to be friends with Nelson Mandela.
Former UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Khawla Mattar, charts her path from covering the Lebanese civil war as a young journalist to her long career in the multilateral system. Starting out as the “joke of the UN” - an Arab Muslim woman not expected to succeed in negotiating with extremists - she quickly proved doubters wrong by crossing into ISIL and al-Nusra territory and successfully negotiating local ceasefires. Her first-hand account of wartime Syria not only reveals the horrors and desperation of war, but also her admiration for the resilience of young Syrians and her unwavering hope for a rebuilt country.
Kenya’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Martin Kimani, reflects on his nation’s role as a “clear voice for Africa” on the Security Council, and stresses the importance of calling out hypocrisy and colonial nostalgia on the global stage. Taking us behind the scenes of the UN’s vote on Ukraine, he argues that Western countries should not have framed it as a matter of “East versus West”. He also discusses the challenges of nation building and explains why he would bet that African officials are some of the most advanced political engineers in the world.
Peace negotiator and former President of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, Fatima Gailani, shares behind-the-scenes moments from her long career in Afghan politics – from the 1980s, when she became a spokesperson for the Mujahideen, to 2021, when she came out of retirement to take part in negotiations with the Taliban. She recalls childhood memories of Afghanistan’s “Golden Era” and the subsequent shock of seeing a country scarred by civil war when she returned from exile many years later. Her first-hand account reveals what it is like to be a woman in the predominantly male realm of Afghan politics, and why she continues to hope for a truly inclusive peace.
Special Envoy of President Zelensky, Rustem Umerov, takes us back to the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, recalling nightly conversations with the presidential office and the first attempts at negotiation only days after the war had begun. Serving as one of Ukraine’s negotiators, Umerov’s first-hand account of the past months offers unique insights into the dynamics of an ongoing armed conflict. He also shares his personal motivations for going into human rights work, and for choosing to negotiate at a time when war rages at home.
Welcome back to the fourth season of The Mediator's Studio, bringing you stories from behind the scenes! The new season, recorded at the Oslo Forum 2022, brings you conversations with a freedom fighter turned president, a journalist reporting from the frontlines of conflict as well as mediators and negotiators working in a range of contexts including the Horn of Africa, Syria and Mozambique. Here's a sneak peek of what you can listen to in the next few weeks.
Director of the Policy and Mediation Division at the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Teresa Whitfield, takes us through the highlights and challenges of her career in conflict mediation – starting with a chance encounter at the Havana Film Festival that led her to El Salvador in the middle of a civil war. She talks about her transition from journalism to peacemaking and the evolution of mediation support, including the deployment of digital technologies in Libya. And she explains why, despite geopolitical tensions making wars increasingly difficult to resolve, the values and principles of the UN remain a beacon of hope.
Former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, offers insights from decades mediating conflicts across Africa, from Liberia to Sudan. He takes us behind the scenes of some of the most tense moments of his career – including when he found out about protestors setting the Burkina Faso parliament ablaze while in the middle of delivering an important speech. He also recalls the harrowing experience of coming under mortar fire on a naval ship in Liberia, and how this brought home the brutal reality of war and the importance of seeking peace.
Yemeni activist and international peace advocate, Muna Luqman, reflects on her efforts to reduce suffering in her country’s deadly war – from helping open humanitarian corridors across battlefields to negotiating safe passage for those at risk. Through stories from the frontlines, she illustrates the creativity and courage of local peacemakers, whether using social media to get army tanks removed from the streets or de-escalating tensions around access to water. She also recalls how women have put their lives at risk time and again, and how they have refused to be defeated in their fight for space at the negotiating table.
Former freedom fighter turned UN diplomat, Haile Menkerios, recounts his role in Eritrea’s war of independence and the devastation of being exiled from the country he had fought to create. Reflecting on how his approach as a mediator in Sudan, South Sudan and beyond was shaped by his own experience of war, he stresses the importance of talking to everyone and urges us to “never stop believing in a better future”.
Veteran Algerian diplomat and distinguished conflict mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, provides a front-row perspective on key moments in Afghanistan’s troubled history – beginning with his appointment as UN Special Envoy in 1997, after Kabul last fell to the Taliban. He reflects on personal regrets and missed opportunities over years of peace negotiations – from Bonn to Doha – and recalls his interactions with Taliban leadership, including the meeting where a young interpreter played an unexpected part in preventing a war. He also discusses his role in Iraq and why, despite his reservations, he couldn’t say no to the task of trying to find a peaceful solution to the war in Syria.
Join us next week for a new season of The Mediator’s Studio podcast. Guests include a veteran mediator in Afghanistan and Syria, a former freedom fighter turned UN diplomat, a peacemaker with decades of experience across Africa, a Yemeni activist and frontline humanitarian, and more! New episodes from 15 February.
Former Lead Negotiator for the Government of the Philippines, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, takes us inside the peace talks that ended half a century of insurgency in the southern Philippines. She reveals how she worked to unify the positions of the army, police and political establishment on her own side and went on to find common ground with representatives of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an armed group that for decades had fought for more autonomy. She lays out the milestones towards peace, describing how the parties reached the point of no return “on Heartbreak Hill”, and explains why we must all be radical in the search for peace. Find out more about the https://www.hdcentre.org/osloforum/peacewriter-prize/ (Oslo Forum Peacewriter Prize). We love to hear your feedback - take our https://0lotay3liy7.typeform.com/to/BszSNdLf (1 minute listener survey).
Former UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, reveals behind-the-scenes moments from his missions to Iran and North Korea. He also reflects on a career in the US Foreign Service, which threw him into the limelight of Lebanese politics at the time of Syria’s turbulent exit from the country, and recounts the dramatic episode when a talkative contact may have saved him from the huge car bomb that killed Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. We love to hear your feedback – take our https://bit.ly/3uSaLrH (1 minute listener survey).
Former FARC commander, Victoria Sandino, now a Senator in Colombia, and the country’s former High Commissioner for Peace, Sergio Jaramillo Caro, were once enemies, facing each other over the negotiating table. Now they come together in The Mediator’s Studio to give the inside story on how secret talks led the two sides to a lakeside retreat in Cuba, where they forged a peace agreement to end one of Latin America’s longest conflicts. They reveal how they worked together when the Colombian people narrowly rejected the deal in a referendum and talk frankly about protecting an increasingly fragile peace today.
Former Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Libya, Stephanie Williams, reveals how Zoom calls and digital dialogues helped put the country on the path to elections after a decade of conflict and instability. She recalls her shock when a phone call from President Trump undermined the UN-led peace process, and explains how the latest, livestreamed round of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum turned up the heat on Libya’s political class. We love to hear your feedback – take our https://bit.ly/3atoQDR (1 minute listener survey).
Businessman turned local mediator, Ibrahim Saleh Hassan, recalls being caught up in intercommunal violence in his home city of Jos and explains why, in the aftermath of this traumatic experience, he chose to be part of the solution rather than seek revenge. He tells Adam how he applied the lessons of this first dialogue process to other mediation efforts across Nigeria’s Middle Belt and why he has found that a peacemaker’s work is never done.
Former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, reveals the inner workings of negotiations to secure a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme and looks ahead to prospects for the agreement under a Biden administration. She recalls how she put former enemies at ease in talks between Serbia and Kosovo, argues that Europe has learned the lessons of bitter division and war and explains why, despite the fact that progress is often slow, she remains optimistic about mediation and negotiation.
Special Envoy of the African Union to Sudan, Mohamed El Hacen Lebatt, recounts his mediation role in the political transition in Sudan; his arrival in Khartoum in an atmosphere of fear just ten days after the 2019 coup, his late-night talks with the military authorities and his discussions with opposition groups, particularly after a massacre that killed over one hundred civilians. He recalls shedding tears in the search for peace, and how those tears turned to elation once a deal was done.
Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, takes us back to the origins of private diplomacy and his early efforts to bring peace to the Indonesian province of Aceh and the Basque region. He talks about the ‘tradecraft’ of starting secret talks and the art of establishing trust with conflict parties. His wealth of experience has taught him invaluable lessons, and he explains how he applies them now, in Yemen – one of the most complex conflicts of our time.
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the African Union, Hanna Tetteh, charts her journey from the legal profession where she defended disadvantaged women to Ghanaian politics, where, as Foreign Minister, she introduced affirmative action into the diplomatic service. She offers robust lessons for would be mediators, describing how she told a negotiator not to lecture her on suffering and making the case for women to take a central role in the search for peace in South Sudan.
Secretary General of the Global Centre for Pluralism, Meredith Preston McGhie, reveals the backroom story of working closely with Kofi Annan to resolve Kenya’s violent political crisis in 2008, typing out the peace deal as each word was negotiated, with senior ministers circling her to glimpse the draft on her laptop. She lays bare the mediator’s craft while describing her work to resolve conflicts in Asia and Africa, admitting that while heavily pregnant she once threatened to go into labour when negotiations began to stall.
Special Adviser to the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, Ambassador Said Djinnit, recalls the nightmares of a childhood under colonial rule in his native Algeria. With a chilling story of the moment a French soldier threatened to kill his father, he illustrates how those injustices propelled him into a lifetime of mediation. Among the many tales of the untold, he recounts being mistaken for a French agent during his mission to restore democracy in Comoros following a dramatic coup, as well as persuading a military general in Guinea to step down shortly after seizing power.
Special Envoy of Uganda to South Sudan, Betty Bigombe, retraces her steps to northern Uganda as government negotiator, engaging one of the most brutal armed groups the world has known in her efforts to end the civil war. Despite significant threats to her safety, including ambushes, landmines and accusations of treason, she persists in her attempt to forge peace. Drawing on decades in peacemaking, she outlines the principles that guided her recent engagement in South Sudan and is forthright in her views on the tension between justice and peace. Listeners are warned that this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence.
Norwegian peace facilitator, Dag Nylander, recounts how he smuggled salmon into Havana where negotiations brought to an end one of South America’s longest running civil wars. He describes how, during an early morning helicopter mission, a chance encounter with a young guerrilla influenced the peace agenda in Colombia. And he outlines the essence of Norwegian-style diplomacy, laying out how the dynamics of peace processes change over time, making the impossible achievable.
The founder and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE, calls for a complete rethink of international approaches to conflict resolution to better reflect the increasing fragmentation of warfare. Sharing first-hand accounts of her encounters with Gucci gangsters in Jamaica and South Africa's Knitting Needles Guerrilla, and recounting a dash after a foreign minister through the corridors of the UN, she demonstrates the importance of diversifying voices at the negotiating table and how the pivotal UNSC Resolution 1325 established a new discourse for the inclusion of women in peacemaking.
Former United Nations Special Representative for Libya, Ghassan Salamé, reveals why he’s “very angry” and concerned about the “state of multi-lateralism and international cooperation" today. Drawing on his personal experience dealing with a highly internationalized conflict, Salamé opens up about his frustrations with members of the UN Security Council for “stabbing him in the back” and concern for their “hypocrisy” in undermining his mediation efforts in Libya. He recounts the harrowing aftermath of the terror attack on the UN mission in Baghdad in 2003, and he laments the slowness of his native Lebanon to deal with its divided past.
The BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, reflects on the most pivotal moments of mediation in recent history – from Syria, to Afghanistan and Yemen. Through recollections of her personal encounters with renowned mediators like Kofi Annan, Martti Ahtisaari, Catherine Ashton and Lakhdar Brahimi, among others, Lyse offers a unique view of mediation, sharing insights from her work behind-the-scenes.
What happens behind closed doors when peace agreements are negotiated? The Mediator’s Studio gives you a glimpse into the normally hidden world of peace diplomacy: first-hand stories from mediators, armed groups and governments on what it takes to end wars. Join our host Adam Cooper, in a conversation with Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ine Eriksen Søreide, to get a sneak peek of the show. The Mediator’s Studio is a podcast from the Oslo Forum, the world’s leading mediation retreat. It’s brought to you by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.