IGAD foreign ministry officials discuss conflict

By Taddeo Bwambale

Senior officials from ministries of foreign affairs of IGAD member states are meeting in Kenya to discuss regional cooperation on conflict prevention.

The bi-annual meeting which starts on Wednesday at Sarova Mara Game Camp will be chaired by Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Interior and Coordination of National Governance, h. E Ole Lenku.

The meeting is organised by the Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN), a specialized unit of IGAD that uses data and analysis to warn and support response to violent conflict.

The agency was established in 2002 with specific focus on cross-border pastoral and related conflicts but in September 2012, member states decided to expand its mandate to cover a wide spectrum of conflict types and geographic areas.

The regional meeting in Kenya was preceded by a two-day technical committee meeting that started on Tuesday for heads of CEWARN’s national Units, as well as representatives of Civil society organisations from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

According to a media release, CEWARN is expected to deliver data-based early warning and early response initiatives covering violent conflicts arising from resource competition and environmental pressures, inter-ethnic and religion-based conflict, terrorism and violent extremism as well as violent conflicts related to land management, elections and boundary disputes among numerous others.

Last year, at a similar held meeting in Kampala, Ministers from IGAD member states agreed to coordinate and harmonise interventions in the Karamoja Cluster.

The region which shared by some of the countries is endowed with mineral resources but riddled with conflict and is severely affected by natural disasters, drought and insecurity

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