MAS ETH MPP 2024 Policy Forum on Peace Mediation: Conflict Resolution in the Current Global Peace and Security Context

Speakers

Alexandre Fasel Alexandre Fasel took up his position as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs on 1 September 2023. From June 2021 onwards he served as the Special Representative for Science Diplomacy of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. As Ambassador of Switzerland in the United Kingdom from autumn 2017, he contributed to the implementation of the Swiss Government’s ‘Mind the Gap’ strategy on Brexit. During his career, he has engaged with the topics of European integration, the interface between foreign and domestic policy, foreign policy analysis and policy formulation as well as multilateral diplomacy, the latter as Head of the UN Division at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and as Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Office of the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva

Itonde Kakoma assumed the role of President of Interpeace on October 2, 2023. Prior to Interpeace, he most recently served as the Permanent Representative of the International Federation of the Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to the African Union and International Organizations (2021-2023). In this capacity, Kakoma advanced continental wide humanitarian diplomacy initiatives with the African Union in public health security; climate change; disaster risk management; food security; and humanitarian affairs. Mr. Kakoma served in various leadership capacities on matters of international peace mediation, including as Director for Global Strategy and member of the leadership team at CMI Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation. Over a period of eight years at CMI, he steered mediation support teams for both official and informal peace processes, and advanced high-level peace mediation and dialogue undertakings in the Great Lakes, the Horn, and wider Red Sea region. Mr. Kakoma was an Executive-in-Residence and subsequently Global Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He holds an Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict from the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law & Human Rights and the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies.

Mohamed Ali Guyo is the Special Envoy for the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Somalia of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Prior to joining IGAD, he served as the Director for Peace and Security in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya, with a focus on the Greater Horn of Africa. He also served as a Special Advisor to the IGAD peace processes for South Sudan and Sudan, and as Director of the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) Nairobi office. Ambassador Guyo holds a Doctorate in Peace and Security (Norway).

Asif Khan is Director of the Policy and Mediation Division within the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. He was also an adjunct lecturer at Columbia University and most recently a visiting fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) in Oslo.

Andreas Wenger is professor of International and Swiss Security Policy at ETH Zurich. He studied History, Political Science and German Literature at the University of Zurich. He holds a Doctorate from the University of Zurich and was a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Center of International Studies, Princeton University. Andreas Wenger was a guest scholar at Princeton University (1992–1994), Yale University (1998), the Woodrow Wilson Center (2000), and the George Washington University (2005). He serves as Director of studies for the Master of Advanced Studies Mediation in Peace Processes (MAS ETH MPP), the Diploma of Advanced Studies ETH in Military Sciences (DAS ETH MILWISS), and the BA ETH in Public Policy; as President’s delegate for professor appointment procedures; and as member of ETH Zurich Strategy Commission.Andreas Wenger has been the Director of the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich since 2002. The CSS is a center of excellence for national and international security policy. Since its foundation in 1986, the CSS has fulfilled a national role at the intersection of academia and public policy and a key bridging function vis-​à-​vis society and politics. The CSS maintains a strong partnership with the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). These partnerships cover research, education, and policy engagement.

Katia Papagianni serves as Director for Policy and Mediation Support at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) in Geneva.  Having joined HD in 2006, she is an expert in the design of peace processes, including national dialogues and constitution-making.  At HD, she has supported peace processes in Liberia, Libya, Syria, Myanmar, Ukraine, the Philippines and elsewhere along with being seconded to the United Nations to support national dialogue efforts in Yemen. Before joining HD, worked for the National Democratic Institute, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the UN Development Programme. She has been based in Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iraq, and she has taught about peacebuilding at Geneva’s Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies and at Columbia University. Katia holds a Bachelor’s degree from Brown University, Master’s degree from Princeton University and a Doctorate in Political Science from Columbia University.

Stephanie Turco Williams served as United Nations Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs (2018-20) and Acting Special Representative of the Secretary General (2020-21), at the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). In December 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Stephanie Williams of the United States as his Special Adviser on Libya. Stephanie has more than 27 years of experience in Government and International Affairs, mostly in the Middle East region. Before joining the United Nations, Stephanie spent 24 years in the U.S. Foreign Service. Her last assignment prior to her retirement in 2018 was Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. at the United States Embassy in Tripoli (Libya External Office).  She also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Missions in Iraq (2016-2017), Jordan (2013-2015) and Bahrain (2010-2013) and as a Senior Adviser on Syria. Ms. Williams graduated with honors from the University of Maryland in 1987 with a double degree in Economics and Government Relations.  In 1989, she earned a Master’s Degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.  She is a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, where she earned a Master’s Degree in National Security Studies in 2008.  She is a career Middle East specialist and an Arabic speaker.

MAS ETH MPP

The MAS ETH MPP is a two-year postgraduate program for mid-career professionals involved in mediating violent political conflicts and supporting peace processes globally. The program has the vision of contributing to a more peaceful and secure world by providing peace mediators with the knowledge, skills, techniques, and networks to effectively mediate violent political conflicts. Since its launch in 2017, around sixty participants from 41 countries have participated in the program. The MAS ETH MPP is built on a close partnership between ETH Zurich and its strategic partners, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations (UN) and the foreign ministries of Germany and Finland. More: www.mas-mediation.ethz.ch.