Conclusions: Guiding Principles
Bearing in mind the considerations provided for the different phases of the peace process, the following principles are offered to guide the management of DDR issues in a peace process.
Build Trust but Understand That Achieving Absolute Trust May Not Be Possible
Successful negotiation (and implementation) of DDR issues in a peace process is highly dependent on the faith that conflict parties have in the peace process. Therefore, there must be sufficient trust (absolute trust is unlikely) between negotiating parties prior to commencing discussions on DDR issues, which will deal with troop strength, locations, weaponry, use of children associated with fighting force, abductees, and war crimes. Common ground on humanitarian issues (discharge of injured and disabled, exchange of prisoners of war) and protection issues (release of children, the abducted), while important in their own right, can provide an early bridge to the later discussion of more hard-core issues of men and weapons. Such an approach requires close cooperation between the mediation team and relevant humanitarian and protection agencies.
Sensitize and Educate Parties on DDR Issues
Today, DDR is a relatively well-understood international concept among United Nations and the donor community. However, this complex program, its linkages to other political and social aspects of a peace process, and the flexibility that needs to be adopted in relation to this activity may not be well understood by mediators and negotiating parties (from the political to the military, from elites to the rank and file). As a result, mediators must familiarize themselves and the negotiating parties with the concepts, objectives, terminologies, and linkages to other security arrangements (such as the integration of rebel forces into national security apparatus, issues of rank harmonization, vetting issues, SSR) of DDR programs. Useful ways to convey such information include the deployment of security advisers to these negotiating parties and their armed groups, targeted capacity-building (training) activities, and study tours that focus on learning from the experiences of other countries.
Be Context Relevant
Even as a