Julian Thomas Hottinger works with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. He is a highly experienced mediator and has provided expert technical assistance to peace negotiations in conflict situations including Sudan, Indonesia and Uganda. He holds a PhD in Political Science and specialised as an International Conflict Mediator at the Canadian International Institute for Applied Negotiations [CIIAN] in Ottawa, Canada.
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Jan Egeland is Executive Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Associate Professor at the University of Stavanger. Mr Egeland was the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from June 2003 to December 2006. He has substantial experience in the field of humanitarian relief and conflict resolution through the United Nations, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, the Norwegian Government and NGOs.
Hizkias Assefa is an international peacebuilding practitioner and professor of Conflict Studies at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Working with Pax Christi, he played a mediating role in the lead up to and early part of the Juba talks. More recently he has been involved in mediation work in Senegal and Nigeria, and was a mediation expert for the African Union sponsored talks led by Kofi Annan to end post-election violence in Kenya.
Rwot David Acana II was invested in the newly-created position of Acholi Paramount Chief in January 2005 in Gulu. In this position, he heads Ker Kwaro Acholi, a focal point of conflict resolution at the family, clan, interclan, inter-ethnic levels and responsible for traditional conflict management mechanisms. Mr Acana, with other civil society leaders, has condemned the military approach in northern Uganda and urged donors to continue their support for a negotiated solution.
Father Carlos Rodriguez is secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Gulu. He has worked with Kitgum Peace & Justice Committee and Acholi Religious Leaders’ Peace Initiative on peacebuilding and human rights education and advocacy.
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Joyce Neu is the first director of the newly-established Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice in San Diego, California. Dr Neu previously worked with The Carter Center in Atlanta, where she helped facilitate discussions between parties in conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Congo-Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Mali, Sudan and Uganda.
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Rosalba Oywa is a pioneer of community-based conflict resolution in the Acholi region of northern Uganda. In 1989 she mobilised women in Gulu to participate in a public demonstration demanding an end to the war. In 1995 she formed a women’s peace group, People’s Voice for Peace, which supports community reintegration of formerly abducted children and advocates for the inclusion of grass-roots perspectives and women in peace processes.
Dr Otunnu is Assistant Professor of African History, Refugee Studies and Contemporary Global Issues at DePaul University (Chicago). He has also taught African History and Refugee Studies at York University (Toronto). Dr Otunnu has published on refugee crises, conflict resolution and genocide in Africa. Research for this work was partly done by Jane Laloyo.
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Dr. Patrick Oguru Otto is the Coordinator of the London-based Kacoke Madit (KM) Secretariat. He has worked extensively with KM’s international peace promotion activities since 1996.
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Billie O’Kadameri participated in the 1993-94 peace talks as a journalist as well as Media, Political and Risk Analyst to Minister Betty Bigombe. He now works for the English Service of Radio France Internationale, Paris.
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