Addis Ababa, 25-02-2014: IGAD Security Sector Program (ISSP) held the first off its bi-annual Steering Committee Meeting of 2014 in Addis Ababa today under the chairmanship of Ato Tesfaye Yitayih as it was co-presided by Ambassador Tewelde Gebremeskel, Director of IGAD Peace and Security Division, and Commander Abebe Muluneh, Head of ISSP.
The Djibouti delegation led by Mr. Ali Mohamed Afkada, the Ethiopian delegation led by Ato Tesfaye Yitayih, the Kenyan delegation led by Ms. Helen Rosa Kagwanya, IGAD Focal Point at the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Somali delegation led by Mr. Ahmed H. Dualeh, sitting for the Director General of the National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia (NISA), the South Sudanese delegation led by Mr. Adam Adupa Lorika, IGAD Focal Point at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Sudanese delegation led by Mr. Mohamed Gamal, Director General of Sudan National Counter-terrorism Commission, and the Ugandan delegation led by Mr. Francis Wanyina, IGAD Focal at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended this meeting.
ISSP Partners such as the Embassy of Australia, the Embassy of the Netherland, the Embassy of the USA to Ethiopia were represented.
After validating the agenda for the day, Chairperson Ato Tesfaye Yitayih invited Commander Abebe Muluneh to the floor for his opening remarks. Commander Muluneh thanked the Ethiopian government for hosting the meeting before reminding the audience that the Embassies of Canada and Denmark to Ethiopia were also key partners to ISSP. He, then, stated the purpose of the meeting which consisted in submitting the ISSP 2013 annual report, and reviewing and approving the 2014 plan of activities and budget. More broadly, he highlighted that “the purpose of ISSP is enabling and enhancing member states security sector capacity (…)”. It is in that respect that during 2013, “ISSP implemented 38 planned activities out of 41”.
Ambassador Gebremeskel said in his opening remarks that “IGAD has reviewed the ISSP 2013 action plan as excellent for its 90% results achievement”. He added that the proposed “2014 action plan is carefully designed (…) and aligned with the activities of other Peace and Security programs, especially with IGAD Conflict Early Warning (CEWARN)”.
After which the ISSP Steering Committee Meeting was officially opened to proceed with presentations by ISSP Heads of Pillars for Counter Terrorism, Dr. Simon Nyambura, for Maritime Security, Mr. Daoud Alwan, for Counter Transnational Organized Crime, Mr. Tu’emay Aragawi, for Security Institutions Capacity Building, Mr. Khalid Abdelrahman, and by ISSP Financial Officer, Mr. Seyoum Wubshhet.
A questions and answers session involving member states and partner countries representatives followed, triggering fruitful discussions that led to the approval of the ISSP 2014 Plan of Activities.
The meeting closed the same day upon a closing ceremony where Chairperson Ato Tesfaye Yitayih gave the floor to Djibouti Head of delegation, Mr. Ali Ali Mohamed Afkada,for some closing remarks on behalf of the member states participants.
