منتدى استراحات زايد - الغاريديان وعباس المرشد يكشفون عن صفقات بين المعارضة والحكومة لم تتم

Ex-Blair aide advising Bahrain on conflict resolution
Jonathan Powell's NGO has organised meetings for Bahraini government and opposition, applying lessons of Northern Ireland

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Jonathan Powell played a key role in securing the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland in 1998. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Tue 30 Oct 2012 22.26 GMT

Bahraini government and opposition figures are being trained in negotiation and conflict resolution techniques by Tony Blair's former chief of staff Jonathan Powell, the Guardian can reveal.
Powell, who played a key role in securing the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland in 1998, was asked to undertake the work when Bahrain approached the UK Foreign Office for help with implementing the recommendations of an independent report on the Gulf state's unrest last year.

Since leaving government in 2007 Powell has run InterMediate, a small NGO working on conflicts across the world. According to sources in Manama, Powell's team has organised a series of discreet meetings in London and Northern Ireland for Bahraini officials and opposition figures, applying the lessons of the province's sectarian divide in a Middle Eastern context.

A spokesman for InterMediate said that for reasons of confidentiality it does not comment on any of its projects, and refused to confirm or deny that it was involved in Bahrain. He stressed that as a matter of principle the charity does not accept funding from the government of any country in which it works.

Bahrain is known for employing expensive western PR agencies to present its case. It also buys security expertise. Last year it secured the services of John Yates, the formerMetropolitan police commisioner, who is an adviser to the interior ministry. Another adviser is John Timoney, a former Miami police chief.