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Ambassador for Peace Lessons learned By Laurie Forner THE Norwegian speaks slowly and deliberately. His words are well chosen and carefully enunciated as if he were in negotiations. Every word needs to be fully understood. "A compromise," Jan Egeland said, "is something that smells a little bit on both sides." Egeland is the Special Adviser to the Norwegian Red Cross and International Peace Research Institute of Oslo. He addressed hundreds of supporters of peace at the Eleventh Annual Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis on February 20, 1999. Egeland has been instrumental in several events of international significance, facilitating peace efforts with countries such as Israel, Guatemala, Cyprus and Colombia. He admits his work in the peace process has experienced many setbacks. Negotiations with countries in conflict are complex and difficult. However, Egeland said, "A better alternative to a full-blown war is an imperfect peace process. Perhaps only one in a hundred attempts will succeed; still it is worth the effort." Lessons learned Egeland describes some of the lessons learned during negotiations, especially between Israel and the PLO. There will be no real and lasting peace unless public and private parties are willing to compromise. Rather than focus on the past, we should focus on the future in order to work together toward agreement. Conflicting parties need secret links without time constraints and diplomatic protocol. It is a mistake to solve a thousand-year conflict on a 5-year schedule. The parties in conflict need to deal with their personal and national disagreements secretly without media intervention. They need to time to focus on thoughts of resolution rather than questions of division. It is necessary to provide experienced personnel and material support. In Norway there are over 60,000 Norwegians that take part in United Nations peacekeeping efforts through non-governmental organizations. These decentralized citizen groups Egeland casually calls "NGOs", are able to provide quick communication, flexibility and diverse support. Governmental financial aid, given as "venture capital for peace," is provided to the "NGOs" to support their efforts. In order for any of the negotiations to be effective and bring about real peace, Egeland says individuals have to work for that peace. "People to people peace is as important as the peace process between military leaders," Jan Egeland. | Peace Matters home |