ROLE OF MEDIATOR IN CONFLICT PREVENTION
BY: SYED SHER ABBAS*

Mediation is an activity of engaging oneself in certain activities of bringing
two disputant parties closer together for an agreement. Mediation started from the Greek city state .first it was used in trade commerce but later on it was used in politics as well. It is and old technique but it has been recognized as an official technique after 1945. Mediation has no legal status; it is simple, flexible and informal.
Mediation is an ongoing activity in which mediator deals with conflicting parties in such a manner that the capabilities of distraction are prevented to escalate. Mediator is a facilitator who seeks to establish or restore communication between the parties .In this process the nature of issue should be clarified so that the mediator can reach a situation for purposeful dialogue with and between the parties. Status quo is unacceptable and things can be allowed to continue until a particular issue is settled down. Mediation is a process by which a third party seeks to help person involved in a dispute come to a mutual satisfactory resolution of their conflict.

Mediator should have some key characteristics viz:

1. Mediator’s role is to facilitate negotiations between conflicting parties.
2. Mediator should be neutral and avoid taking sides in attempting to move the parties toward agreement.
3. Mediator should guide the negotiations and decision will be in the hands of disputants.
4. What is going on in mediation is not expected to be shared with others.
5. Mediator Session should be conducted in a private place and there won’t be official record of what is discussed. Mediator should have no past relations with the disputants.
6. Mediator should be persistent and cool minded, and should not have a personal agenda.
7. Mediator provides clear communication facilities, so mediator helps the parties talk to one another clearly about their differences.
   The above-mentioned characteristics should have a mediator otherwise process may not be fruitful.
   Mediation is less likely to show success with complex issues than it is with simple issues. When hostilities developed to high degree mediation does not seem to be successful. We saw in Jimmy Carter’s activities in Camp David in 1978 a very intense conflicts can be mediated .we can also see how much difficulties in the task of mediation can be. Conflict intensity and complexity are key factors, which directly effects on the mediators capabilities.
   When we show interest in actions that aim to reduce the number and scale of armed conflict by finding solution at any earlier stage these ambitions are known as conflict prevention. Conflict prevention aims to reduce or eliminate violence in a conflict not necessarily to eliminate the conflict. It includes constructive actions taken by third party to avoid the likely threads. Prevention actions are not actions done by the parties themselves to scale down the conflict, but rather those of third party. Preventive diplomacy after the cold war is one coming from the outside, buildings on the goals such as those expressed in the international community. It serves to reduce tension in a conflict and push the parties in to a negotiating solution. To be effective it has to be credible by not benefiting one or the other fighting parties. Our history is full of examples of crises that may expect to become serious but they were prevented. In Cuban missile crises there are successful management of tension among major powers. There was a severe tension between Russia and Ukraine over the division of black sea fleet in early 1990s. This was solved among the parties with minimal outside involument.

Conclusion
Mediator plays an important role in conflict prevention. Mediator should understand and analyze the conflict in such a manner that mediator would know or can find out the hidden interest of the conflictual parties. As a means of conflict prevention, mediation is becoming popular nowadays. People want to handle their disputes with less confrontational ways and success of mediator is producing of an agreement between the conflicting parties. And such result would be expected when parties would show flexible mood and the capabilities of mediator also plays important role in conflict prevention.

* M.A (Previous) Second Semester, 2006

All content (C) Department of International Relations, Karachi University

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