Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

The African country of Lesotho doesn't make the news much, but now the Prime Minister has promised to resign, his wife is on the lamb, and questions are again being raised about the murder of his ex-wife three years ago.

And there's not a lot of agreement in jurisdictions around the world about the use of lie detector tests.

What is clear is that the tests don't work perfectly.

But even so, there's a belief that they can spot some of the truth,

and that is enough to make people reveal more of it.

First up, though, for more than half a century, the Colombian government had been at war with the FARC rebel group.

There had been some steps toward peace about a decade ago, but talks became stuck. The two sides couldn't agree on how those responsible

for the crimes of the Civil War should be held to account.

A British charity, called Intermediate, helped find a way forward.

And in 2015, a pioneering transitional justice deal was reached.

A historic peace accord was soon to follow.

That's just one example of how what's known as track two diplomacy has helped resolve a

conflict when official channel stalled. And our diplomatic editor, Daniel Franklin,

has been reporting on its rise. Track two diplomacy, as distinct from track one diplomacy,

is unofficial or private diplomacy, not through governments or international organizations such

as the UN, but run by private facilitators, typically charities, non-governmental

organizations.

And why is there a need for a second one? What's wrong with the first?

Well, often the track one, the official diplomacy, breaks down in some way or never get started.

There are adversaries who refuse, frankly, to talk to each other. And the only

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