Bomi County Senator who chairs the ECOWAS parliament Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM); Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. Has honored an invitation from the Netherlands Institute of International Relations 'Clingendae' to serve as one of the facilitators at the ongoing sixth edition of the High Level Programme on Exploring Negotiation And Mediation As An Instrument For Conflict Resolution.
Henry Karmo [email protected]
The program is being tailored on high-level representatives including Special Representatives, members of the MSC at the ambassadorial level and the ECOWAS Council of the Wise. The training is part of the "Clingendael Peace Negotiations Programme".
The Programme is organized and developed by the Clingendael Academy in collaboration with ECOWAS and will take place at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, The Netherlands. The aim of the Programme will be to further strengthen negotiation and mediation skills and to facilitate the exchange of experiences of representatives from the ECOWAS Commission, Member States and Institutions, to further enhance the regional conflict resolution capacity.
Senator Snowe expressed his delight by the invitation which according to him will afford him the opportunity to share experience. "We have our own experience we can share about the West Africa sub-region we have had situations in our region that through dialogue we have been able to mediate, ECOMOG is an example of some the things that we have achieved over the years".
He also recounted that the sub-region has troops in Guinea Bissau and in the Gambia, as well as continuous dialogue in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, "as well do not forget Europe NATO does have an ongoing war in Ukraine and Russia dialogue should have been a proper way to go.
But they could not reach a dialogue and there has been full scale war that has lasted over a year, despite the fact that the sub-region has its own ups and downs, likewise Europe, and the sub-region would be sharing their own views and experience on some of the things that they have been able to work on over the years.
He further pointed out that there has been tension in the West Africa sub-region over the years, there has been a problem with the close of the border between Benin and Nigeria, likewise tension within member states.
"We have been able to resolve them and even in the just ended Nigerian general elections, there are aggrieved parties we were able to speak to them that the way out is going through the legal process".
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Sen. Snowe who heads the Liberian delegation to the Community Parliament believes the sub-region has done a lot with a lot of experience to share to the rest of the World.
The Clingendael Institute was founded in 1983 and is in the top ten of think tanks in Western Europe. Its Academy is one of the largest diplomatic training academies in the world. Since 2005, the Clingendael Academy has trained thousands of diplomats and high-level international professionals from around the world.
Its staff has provided training and support to mediation initiatives in dozens of peace negotiation processes and for over 250 humanitarian aid Organisations. Clingendael has been a trusted partner for various branches of the UN and mediation Organisations such as the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and is a member of the Mediation Support Network. Clingendael and ECOWAS have collaborated since 2015 with the aim of enhancing the Commission's regional conflict resolution capacity.
Senator Snowe will lecture the gathering on the context and work of the ECOWAS mediation support structure with specific learning goals to enhance the understanding of peace negotiation and mediation processes; Sharing of best practices in mediation and mediation support; Thinking strategically about future mediation and mediation support.
The advanced course also aims at facilitating a peer exchange and experience sharing on mediation and mediation support. Learning methodology: This advanced training and experience sharing programme start with key fundamentals of negotiation and mediation, followed by more in-depth reflection and experience-sharing on how negotiation and mediated processes work, and the role of mediation support structures.
