From Foreignpolicy.com: 

The seven deadly sins of mediation

Lakhdar Brahimi, the former Algerian foreign minister and veteran U.N. trouble-shooter, was appointed lead mediator for Syria on Friday, placing the 78-year-old diplomat at the forefront of international efforts to head off a lengthy civil war in Syria.

Brahimi will replace Kofi Annan, who is scheduled to step down later this month from his post as the U.N. and Arab League's envoy to Syria, citing the refusal of the Syrian combatants and their foreign sponsors to make the necessary compromises for peace. A U.N. spokesman, Eduardo del Buey, issued a statement announcing the new appointment and saying that the U.N. secretary-general "appreciates Mr. Brahimi's willingness to bring his considerable talents and experience to this crucial task for which he will need, and rightly expects, the strong, clear, and unified support of the international community, including the Security Council."

Brahimi said in an interview today with France 24 that he was prepared to begin "meeting anybody who wants to talk with me, whether from the opposition or the government."

...So far, Brahimi has given few hints about how he plans to approach his new challenge. But he has published a short, readable paper that spells out what a mediator shouldn't do when faced with a thorny diplomatic task. Published by New York University's Center on Cooperation and co-written with Salman Ahmed, a former U.N. peacekeeping official who now serves as Susan Rice's chief of staff, the paper outlines the seven deadly sins of mediation to be avoided at all costs.

Read the rest of the article [HERE]

Have a look at the paper either above or clicking the link below:

http://www.cic.nyu.edu/peacekeeping/docs/archive/2008/brahimi_7sins...