Relationality and ‘peace listening’ in the Maputo Accord process in Mozambique

The Maputo Accord process in Mozambique is regarded as a rare success story in a context where international peace mediation as a tool of conflict resolution is in decline. Drawing on empirical research conducted with parties to the process, we outline two framing elements that constitute the practice of ‘peace listening’. The first is human-centred and value-based mediation, which centres the needs of the parties. The second foregrounds the flexibility of peacemaking actors to create an ‘enabling environment’ for peacemaking, challenging the structural and hierarchical nature of international peace mediation. We present two novel contributions to the field of peace mediation. The first is to present a qualitative case study of the Maputo Accord process in Mozambique based on the perspectives and testimonies of the participants themselves. Secondly, by centring the participants in the research, we highlight the potential of relationality as an underpinning theory of successful mediation. We ask what made the Maputo Accord process ‘different’ from previous attempts in the long and complex history of peacemaking attempts in the country, and in so doing, we address an ontological and theoretical gap in the literature on ‘Track One’ processes when it comes to relationality

Conflict resolution · Mediation · Peacebuilding · Peacemaking · Underpinning · Conflict Management and Negotiation · Education for Peace and Conflict Resolution · Peacebuilding and International Security