UN Launches Team on Conflict Mediators

By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press

March 5, 2008

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations has launched a team of conflict mediators that can rapidly deploy to global hotspots with advice on security, constitution drafting and human rights.

Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe on Wednesday likened the six-member team of mobile mediators to "a SWAT team" that can respond to requests from U.N. officials in the field, governments and regional groups.

"When you get a situation that no one expected, like Kenya, our idea is to be able to move, and move extremely quickly," he said, referring to violence that followed a disputed election in December.

In fact, two team members _ a constitution-writing expert and a security expert _ skipped this week's orientation at U.N. headquarters in New York and were sent to Kenya because their skills were needed there urgently, Pascoe said.

"We're using ... members of the team in areas where there's something that really can be done," he said. "For example, if we get to the point where we're doing a constitutional revision or discussion in Somalia, then there might be a need for them."

Pascoe said the list of possible places that team members will be sent "is longer than any of us would like."

Jan Eliasson, the U.N. envoy trying to promote a peace agreement in Darfur, "has pestered me for more expertise," he said, and there could be a need for the U.N. experts in Iraq, and in Cyprus if there is "another full-blown effort" to reunite the divided Mediterranean island.

"If we get to the point where we're doing a constitutional revision or discussion in Somalia, then there might be a need for them," he added.

Pascoe said he expects the team to be "oversubscribed" with requests for their expertise fairly soon, and to spend about 80 percent of their time in the field. The team also has expertise in such areas as justice and power sharing.

The team, which was chosen from over 400 applicants, is being funded for a year by the Norwegian government.

"Our hope is that this will be such an incredible success that everybody will agree that it should be extended," Pascoe said.

Team leader Joyce Neu, an American who has mediated in conflicts and conducted conflict assessments in dozen of countries, said all the members are "very excited."

"There are innumerable conflicts in the world, and our hope is that as a team we can apply some of our knowledge to these efforts to bring about peace more effectively and more sustainably," she said.

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