On the matter of peacekeeping, I've written about it. I'm monitoring the talks in Pretoria. Here's what I have learned about peace talks, having spent countless hours in conference rooms in peace talks around the world. The first thing is it's the little steps that make a difference towards a bigger peace. My worry is that if the triangle of three senior African leaders puts too much pressure on the two sides, then sure, they'll sign a piece of paper. I've sat through so many peace talks where paper after paper has been signed under external pressure—French pressure in Côte d'Ivoire, British pressure in Sierra Leone, etc.—and it never goes anywhere. It's important to take the small steps first.
The second thing I would say is that trust comes not from talking about trust, but taking actions on the ground that build that trust. Here again I say this is a very bizarre process going on in South Africa. I've never come across a peace process, at least in the recent 20 or 30 years of my experience, where peace talks have been going on while fighting has been going on the ground. Usually what happens is you cease fighting and then you come around the table.
Here, what we have, thanks to the efforts of our American friends—and this is to be commended, by the way—is they have brought the two sides together. South Africa has provided a generous table, and the African Union has finally woken up to all this. It's all good, but I think unless we have some confidence-building measures taken on the ground, for example, the cessation of fighting and letting humanitarian aid go through, we're not going to have peace on the ground. My conclusion is that if at the end of this week, on Sunday, the Tigrayan side and the Ethiopian side are still talking, and they extend the talks, or if they agree to meet again, that will have been a victory. Let's not expect too much. Let us just wish them well to carry on talking, and then I hope peace will eventually come.