21-08-2017, Durban (South Africa): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) yesterday inaugurated its 2nd High Level Retreat on Mediation focused on Experience-sharing between members of the IGAD Roster of Mediators and members of the Pan-African Network of the Wise (PanWise) in Durban in partnership with the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD).

Ambassador Tesfaye Negassa, Member of IGAD Roster of Mediators, with Ambassador Tewolde Gebremeskel, Director of Peace & security Division-IGAD, chaired the opening session with Ambassador Welile Nhlapo, Senior Political Advisor-ACCORD, and Ms. Karin Hernmarck Ahliny, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in South Africa.

The purpose of this High-Level Retreat is to create a platform for experience-sharing between members of the IGAD Roster of Mediators, the African Union’s Members of the Panel of the Wise, and members of PanWise from the Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) such as the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), the International Conference for Great Lakes Region (ICGR) and Southern African Development Community (SADC).

This retreat will provide an opportunity for IGAD Roster Members to gain exposure beyond the IGAD region. Further, the Retreat will enable the IGAD Roster Members to share their depth of knowledge of the IGAD region with other mediators, while also learning from the experiences from other regions.

The main objective of the Retreat is to provide a platform for experience-sharing, further deepening mediation knowledge and practice between the IGAD Mediation Roster Members and the PanWise Network.

Ambassador Tesfaye Negassa, in his opening remarks, welcomed on behalf of IGAD Chairperson the cooperation between IGAD Roster of Mediators and Members of the Panel of the Wise Network. He extended his heartfelt congratulations to the organisers of this retreat and the host country, the Republic of South Africa. He appreciated the role played by the IGAD building competences on mediation through trainings and high-level retreats to contribute to the values forms of preventive diplomacy and enhance peacebuilding as well as importance of applying various forms of dispute resolutions mechanism.

Ambassador Tewolde in his opening remarks welcomed the IGAD Roster of Mediators, members of the Panel of the Wise Network from the African Union, COMESA, SADC and ICGLR. He appreciated the long standing and productive partnership between IGAD and ACCORD on conflict prevention, peace-making and conflict resolution. Amb. Tewolde lauded the commitment of the members and former members of the Pan Wise Network to come and participate in this important second retreat of IGAD. He concluded with the hope to see a rich discussion and exchange of opinions with aspiration to see IGAD Roster of Mediators co-opted into the Pan Wise Network.

Mr. Nhlapo commended IGAD for “its effort in building a normative capacity on mediation, as well as in strengthening its relations with other institutions working in the area of conflict prevention & mediation, and in assisting member states build their architecture on conflict prevention, peace-making and peace building”. “We have this opportunity to look at preventive approaches in the form of preventive diplomacy together with other conflict prevention mechanisms in Africa”, he added.

Sweden provides financial support to the retreat.
###

16-08-2017, Bishoftu, Ethiopia: This morning the IGAD South Sudan office convened a 2-day meeting in Bishoftu, Ethiopia on "IGAD High Level Independent Experts Meeting on the Revitalisation of the Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan.''

The meeting is attended by 22 South Sudanese experts from the academia, civil society organisation as well as renowned South Sudanese practitioners. The meeting is also attended by The Chairperson of JMEC H.E. Festus Mogae, the Executive Secretary of IGAD and the IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan. Representatives of the AUC, UN and EU are also present at the meeting.

The objective of the meeting is to create a forum for Independent South Sudanese Experts to meet in an informal setting and engage in a frank dialogue and make recommendations as an input to the Revitalisation Process underway decided by the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government at their Summit meeting held in Addis Ababa on 12 June 2017.

31-07-2017, Entebbe, Uganda: The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) this morning kick started a two day 5th Maritime Security Coordination Committee (MSCC) meeting in Entebbe, Uganda.

The meeting brings together all stakeholders in a forum that includes national, regional, international actors in order to take stock of the progress made since the last MSCC meeting of August 2016.

The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources and Co-Chair of the MSCC; Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Hashi officiated the meeting in the presence of Amb. Tewolde Gebreskel, the Director of Peace and Security; Ms. Maria Christina Stepanesai, Head of EU-CAP Somalia; H.E Abdullahi Olad Roble, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Federal government of Somalia and other dignitaries from the regional states of Somalia as well as development and UN agencies.

During the opening statement Amb Tewolde assured the participants of IGAD’s unwavered support, dedication and effort towards the maritime domain as well as building governance capabilities and harnessing resources for the development of Somali and for the benefit of its people.

‘We pledge to continue supporting the MSCC as well as strengthen the linkages between the regional states and federal government through different mechanisms such as MSCC that are currently operational’ Amb. Tewolde concluded.

Dr. Hashi in the same spirit called upon all stakeholders to work together to strengthen Somalia’s maritime security which is priority to both the government and the federal member states to have an economic reconstructed and revitalized and secure Somalia.

‘We appreciate IGAD’s effort to bring the stakeholders together and look forward to working closely with international partners in laying foundations of the institutions as well as capacity building of the maritime security’ added Dr. Hashi.

The two day meeting will also get the participants to share lessons, challenges and forge ways forward to combat existing and consistent challenges as illegal and unregulated fishing, piracy and illegal foreign vessels.

Attachments:

ENTEBBE COMMUNIQUE

[ENTEBBE COMMUNIQUE ]

170 kB

2017-08-02 08:25

7 July 2017, Djibouti, Djibouti: A high level IGAD delegation that the Executive Secretary, H.E. Ambassador (Eng.) Mahboub Maalim headed, briefed a joint meeting of the Sanctions Committees of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Somalia and Eritrea, as well as Al-Qaida and ISIL (Da’esh) on 30th June 2017 in New York, USA.

14-06-2017, Kampala (Uganda): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), this morning opened a Validation Workshop on Strategic Guidelines on Mediation for IGAD Mediators under the leadership of the Ambassador of Ethiopia to Djibouti and Chair IGAD Committee of Ambassadors (COA), H.E Amb Shamebo Fitamo.

This two-day workshop is bringing together members of IGAD Committee of Ambassador (COA) and the members of the IGAD Roster of Mediators for the purpose of validating the draft IGAD Strategic Guidelines on Mediation for the IGAD Mediation Support Unit (MSU). 

This meeting is also an opportune moment for IGAD Committee of Ambassadors and IGAD Rosters of Mediators to interact, identify and discuss some of the challenges faced so far, as well as to engage member states on several accounts related to conflict prevention through preventive diplomacy and mediation. It is providing an opportunity for members of IGAD COA to acquaint themselves with members of IGAD Roster of Mediators, and to be briefed on the development of IGAD MSU and the IGAD normative capacity on Mediation which is in line with the COA Resolution of September 2012.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Fitamo recalled that as “early as the 1990s, the IGAD region has been and is currently playing a crucial role in mediation and peace process”. He recalled the high level mediation efforts by IGAD in South Sudan and Somalia notably. He also highlighted that the outcomes of the meeting were “expected to strengthen the region’s mediation and preventive diplomacy capacity”. “It would also give an impetus to resolve disputes amicably without embarking on violence and anarchy”, he said in conclusion.

The Director of Peace and Security Division-IGAD, Ambassador Tewolde Gebremeskel, told the audience that the Mediation Strategy Guidelines were “the beginning of our effort to institutionalize preventive diplomacy and mediator”. He took the opportunity to recognize the commitment by the members of the IGAD Roster of Mediators for their time and efforts in the development of the mediation guidelines document from inception to validation. He also recognized the members of the Committee of Ambassadors. “I am confident that the COA will take the opportunity to share their experiences and interact with Roster members during this two days deliberation”, he said.

The IGAD Focal Point at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uganda, Ambassador Paul Mukumbya, officially opened the workshop in his capacity as Guest of Honour after brief welcoming remarks.

According to Dr Aleu Garang, Coordinator of the IGAD Mediation Support Unit, these Strategic Guidelines on Mediation document “serve to inform Mediators on steps to be followed in order to achieve professionally oriented, politically correct, and impartial efficient intervention in conflict prevention or mediation processes”.

The workshop is held in partnership with the African Center for the Constructive Resolution (ACCORD) and financial support from the Kingdom of Sweden and the European Union.

Attachments:

Resolution of the IGAD Committee of Ambassadors

[Resolution of the IGAD Committee of Ambassadors]

1162 kB

2017-07-24 06:33