Interacting with armed groups is challenging and comes with significant dilemmas and risks for mediators. As primary actors in today’s conflicts, non-state armed groups are also essential participants in peace processes. Mediation practitioners should carefully consider how to deal with them.

In Engaging with armed groups, the second publication in the Mediation Practice Series, the author, Teresa Whitfield, draws on experience and case studies to provide mediation practitioners with an overview of the challenges of engaging with armed groups, and suggests options for mediators; from early contacts to formal negotiation.