Douglas E. Noll, professional mediator and author of Elusive Peace: How Modern Strategies Could Better Resolve World Conflicts (Prometheus 2011), endorses Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposal for establishing a UN Conflict Mediation Commission to develop strategies for the resolution of disputes across the world (http://ping.fm/mQGIP ).

“Throughout my book, I discuss the dynamics of peace negotiations through mediation. It is at great human cost that during outdated traditional peace negotiations, children and families flee, suffer famine, disease, and die. Civil unrest can exist years after US and allied countries withdraw from areas of conflict. Somalias famine is an example of this terrible outcome, and unintended consequence. Today’s Somalia can easily become tomorrow’s Libya. There is a better way.”
http://ping.fm/W8uEN