Africa

IGAD, UN to address challenges in Horn of Africa

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and UN Department of Political and Peace Building Affairs (UN-DPPA) has pledged to strengthen joint efforts so as to tackle development challenges in the Horn of Africa (HoA).

The two-day meeting, from March 11 to 12, was held at the IGAD headquarters in Djibouti. IGAD Executive Secretary Mahboub Maalim said during the joint meeting that “the challenges and opportunities in the Horn of Africa require the two organisations to strategically plan, place and manage themselves using a regional approach within a global priority and context”.  

“Confidence building is required from IGAD member states to result into well structured, inclusive, civil and diplomatic measures through dialogue, understanding communities and their needs for political, economic and social development,” Maalim said on Monday.

Barbara Manzi, UN Resident Coordinator in Djibouti, also emphasised that the UN-IGAD partnership “is crucial to assist and guide the region to face its current challenges collectively in order to be effective. Since 2015, the partnership has yielded many positive results,” Manzi said.

The two-day meeting is also expected to discuss strengths and weaknesses of peace and security frameworks in the Horn of Africa as well as risks and opportunities in multilateralism in the region.

According to IGAD, the meeting is a follow-up to the November 2018 IGAD-UN meeting that was held in Kampala, Uganda, where key recommendations and activities for joint engagement were identified. -Xinhua

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