East Africa
BUSINESS WEEK
Brian Coutinho
Saturday, December 06, 2008
IGAD, headquartered in Djibouti, is constituted of Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia.
The region has been plagued by interstate and intercommunal conflicts and is well known for having many transhumant pastoralist communities that often clash over water and pasture in semi-arid conditions.
First established in 1984 as Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD), following the severe drought, famine and ecological degradation of 1974-84, the body was revitalized in 1986 with wider mandate to transform into a fully-fledged regional political, economic, development, trade and security entity under the new name of IGAD.
IGAD has since achieved a lot in the areas of confronting drought and desertification and reducing illegal arms trafficking, cattle rustling and the warrior culture of praising impunity.
According to Maalim, 95% of the conflicts in the region are due to the multiple challenges that climate change poses to communities and states that are largely agricultural.
Although border disputes between Ethiopia and Eritrea and between Eritrea and Djibouti still stand, IGAD’s diplomatic initiatives have pushed them to a lull and these initiatives could sooner or later resolve them to better satisfaction than the UN’s efforts.
IGAD is credited for brokering the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) that ended a 23-year old civil war and offered some autonomy to Southern Sudan.
When the UN and USA dismally failed to restore the state and stability in Somalia, IGAD took over the impossible mission and managed to set up a parliament based in Nairobi and eventually the federal government.
For obvious reason of capacity, IGAD called upon the African Union (AU) to provide a peacekeeping force to help the federal government establish the basic state structures and institutions in Somalia.
Source: East Africa Business Week, Dec 06, 2008