H.E. Amb. (Eng.) Mahboub Maalim had bilateral meeting with H.E. Ambassador Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Meraikhi, Director-General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar on the sidelines of High Level meeting on the Humanitarian situation in South Sudan.

The meeting was held at the VIP Delegates Lounge at the United Nations Offices in Nairobi (UNoN). In attendance were:
(iv) Mr Richard Barno, Director of IGAD’s Conflict Early Warning and Response Network (CEWARN)
(v) Nuur Mohamud Sheekh, IGAD Senior Conflict & Humanitarian Advisor

Amb. (Eng.) Mahboub welcomed his Excellency Dr Al Meraikhi to Nairobi and to the IGAD-OCHA High Level meeting on the humanitarian Situation in South Sudan. He paid tribute to Qatar’s role in development and humanitarian assistance in Member States of IGAD and welcomed collaboration between the Government of Qatar and IGAD. He informed H.E. AL Meraikhi that IGAD has already made initial contact with the Embassy of Qatar in Addis Ababa to explore areas of cooperation. Amb. Maalim lamented that Qatar’s immense contribution to humanitarian and development causes globally did not receive adequate recognition and visibility, pledging that IGAD would always show it’s appreciation with appropriate and due recognition.

H.E. Amb. Al Meraikhi was also briefed on the pivotal role that IGAD plays in the region especially in areas of economic development and conflict resolution and resilience.

It was agreed the ES and senior programme staff from IGAD make an official mission to the Qatari Ministry of International Cooperation to present IGAD’s programme of work and discuss collaboration.

On his part, H.E. Dr. Al Meraikhi thanked Amb. Mahboub for his welcome and reiterated Qatar’s desire to work closely with regional organisations such as IGAD in order to bring development aid closer to the regions where it’s most needed rather than going through third parties. H.E spoke at length on Qatar’s role in the high profile mediation of the Darfur conflict and as a honest intermediary between Eritrea and Djibouti over their border conflict. Noting that this had given Qatar a rare understanding of the region, he expressed a desire to share this experience with IGAD and to learn from IGAD.
He emphasized that Qatar’s primary interest  above all is the alleviation of human suffering and promotion of human dignity. He further appreciated IGAD’s role in playing a coordinating role in the region.
H.E Dr. Al Meraikhi’s in his comments discussed  briefly  a wide range of humanitarian and developmental  programs that  Qatar  supported  and pledged Qatar continuing commitment to exercising it’s rightful role in the region