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Aug 15, 2007

"It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility." --Nathaniel Hawthorne

Harvard Professor Resolves Ethiopian Crisis

As the gray-haired man strode into the posh restaurant in Ethiopia, patrons stood up and applauded. Professor Ephraim Isaac, a retired Ethiopian Harvard scholar had just helped resolve his country's two-year political crisis using traditional Ethiopian problem-solving methods. Just weeks ago, 35 opposition members had been sentenced to life in prison, despite widespread pressure from human rights groups, they had been kept in jail for almost two years for attempting to overthrow the government. It was a deadlock, and the life sentences threatened to escalate the crisis. It was clear to Isaac that his people needed a strong dose of traditional peacemaking methods. He led a nonpartisan Ethiopian "council of elders" that quickly negotiated a deal acceptable to both sides: clemency in exchange for an admission of guilt and promise to respect the rule of law.