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.
…
continue reading
1
Jonathan Powell on angel papers and influencing the great Satan
1:09:00
1:09:00
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:09:00
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 …
…
continue reading
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 ne…
…
continue reading
1
Molly Phee on conflict negotiations the American way
34:40
34:40
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
34:40
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 Sta…
…
continue reading
1
Retno Marsudi on the art of inter-state mediation
20:55
20:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
20:55
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 …
…
continue reading
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 whe…
…
continue reading
1
Sneak Peek: The Mediator’s Studio – Season 6
1:42
1:42
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:42
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 hu…
…
continue reading
1
Alvaro de Soto on opportunities seized in El Salvador and missed in the Middle East
43:22
43:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
43:22
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 th…
…
continue reading
1
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on women fighting for peace
33:28
33:28
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
33:28
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 …
…
continue reading
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 politica…
…
continue reading
1
Nisreen Elsaim on not waiting for the world to burn
34:55
34:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
34:55
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 p…
…
continue reading
1
Karim A. A. Khan KC on the slender sapling of international justice
29:35
29:35
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
29:35
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 visio…
…
continue reading
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 o…
…
continue reading
1
Mutlaq Al-Qahtani on Qatar’s approach to mediation
24:56
24:56
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
24:56
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…
…
continue reading
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 pe…
…
continue reading
1
Ghaith Abdul Ahad on reporting from the front lines
19:51
19:51
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
19:51
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 atro…
…
continue reading
1
Annette Weber on the importance of working with insiders
16:23
16:23
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
16:23
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…
…
continue reading
1
Joaquim Chissano on mediation and meditation in Mozambique
38:15
38:15
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
38:15
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 peo…
…
continue reading
1
Khawla Mattar on a lifeline for Syria’s besieged towns
29:43
29:43
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
29:43
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 ISI…
…
continue reading
1
Martin Kimani on Kenya’s “African agenda” in the Security Council
28:32
28:32
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:32
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 shou…
…
continue reading
1
Fatima Gailani on Afghanistan’s missed opportunities
36:26
36:26
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
36:26
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…
…
continue reading
1
Rustem Umerov on negotiating for Ukraine in the midst of war
32:34
32:34
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
32:34
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 i…
…
continue reading
1
Sneak Peek: The Mediator’s Studio – Season 4
1:31
1:31
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:31
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 includi…
…
continue reading
1
Teresa Whitfield on optimism in the midst of adversity
33:31
33:31
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
33:31
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 t…
…
continue reading
1
Mohamed Ibn Chambas on a mediator’s “baptisms of fire”
35:25
35:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
35:25
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 par…
…
continue reading
1
Muna Luqman on fighting for peace in Yemen
29:37
29:37
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
29:37
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, whe…
…
continue reading