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This paper explores the feasibility of national mediation in Africa. It analyses the role of national mediation in South Africa (1985–1996) and Lesotho (2009–2012) and, taking Ghana as the primary example, the role of national peace councils, which have an institutionalized mandate to mediate in internal conflict. It discusses the complementarity of national and international roles in national mediation, the issue of leverage, the conditions for national mediation (including insider mediators), the composition of mediation teams and their mediation capacity, and the benefits of national mediation.