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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Conflict Mediation in Decolonisation: Namibia's Transition to Independence
Author:Melber, HenningISNI
Year:2007
Periodical:Afrika Spectrum
Volume:42
Issue:1
Pages:73-94
Language:English
Geographic terms:Namibia
Southern Africa
Subjects:decolonization
international arbitration
independence
international relations
nationalism
Politics and Government
Abstract:This case study re-assesses how conflict was mediated in Namibia between 1977/1978 and 1982 and draws some lessons for current debates on conflict mediation approaches. A long conflict in Namibia was resolved successfully by a mediation process that enabled a de facto colony to become a sovereign State via an internationally supervised election. The mediating agencies operated externally in the negotiating process and based their mandate and legitimacy either on the UN system or on indirect involvement in the local (Namibian) or regional (southern African) dimension of the conflict. This article reconsiders the relationship between conflict mediation and decolonization in this particular case, which, while in many ways sui generis, nevertheless makes it possible to extract some general lessons. The authors show how case confidence-building measures were applied, how mediating agencies used different pressures, and how important it was that all the parties to the conflict 'owned' the process. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English, French and German. [Journal abstract]
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