Can you defeat an insurgency?-4

Once you have done that they you can ask the insurgents to cease all activities against the state during the time period of the negotiations and if any of them violate even remotely then all bets should be off and action should be taken against them. Both the sides should halt all activities relating to security as long as the negotiations are being discussed but that does not mean that if you find an wanted killer right in front of you, you will ignore that since the negotiations are "on". This point should be conveyed to the insurgents from the start so that there is no illusion of who is in charge. There is no need to advertise daily about what is going on in that negotiations as it will have an impact on the negotiating teams and may cause them to get distracted from their original terms. Since hopefully everybody involved have done their homework and have brought the terms of the negotiation, there is no need to change them later on if the government believes that it fundamentally deviates from the original terms. The incumbent government should have the exclusive authority to negotiate with the insurgents and all outside people sympathetic or non sympathetic to the insurgents should be barred from influencing any of the decisions made the government team. You have heard the expression "Too many cooks spoil the broth" and this exactly will happen if the government tries to involve too many parties in the negotiation process.