On Thursday 14^th September 2017 IGAD Peace and Security Division signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with ISS to strengthen cooperation and partnership between the division and ISS. Ambassador Tewolde Gebremeskel, IGAD Peace and Security Division Director and the Tonette Grutter, Head of Operations and Human Resource at ISS were the signatories. At the signing ceremony the parties noted that the signed MoU will strengthen and expand the scope of cooperation between ISS and IGAD Peace and Security Division in fulfilling the IGAD peace and security strategic objectives.

IGAD hosted a two-day constitutive meeting of a regional Strategic Dialogue forum in Horn of Africa region from 7-8 September 2017 at the Capital Hotel in Addis Ababa.

05-09-2017, Djibouti (Djibouti): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Center of Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (ICEPCVE) this morning launched a three-day workshop in Djibouti  on how law enforcement and communities can engage in preventing and countering violent extremism.

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.
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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.