Press Release: ISS and IGAD to coperate the Horn of Africa
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Dr. Jakkie Cilliers
Executive Director
Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria
Tel: +27 12 346 9500
Contact:
Sarah Malefo
smalefo@issafrica.org
9 December 2011
ISS and IGAD to cooperate on the Horn of Africa
O
n 7-8 December 2011, H.E. Engineer Mahboub, the Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Commander, Abebe Muluneh Beyene, visited the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) to reinforce the cooperation between the two organizations. The collaboration between IGAD and the ISS started in 2003 and culminated, in 2006, with the establishment of the IGAD Capacity Building Programme against Terrorism (ICPAT) hosted by the ISS office in Addis Ababa and from 2010 known as the IGAD Security Sector Programme (ISSP), now fully integrated into IGAD.
Recalling their 2009 and 2003 Memorandum of Understanding, IGAD and the ISS agree that strengthening the co-operative relations between them will facilitate the effective undertaking of complementary tasks.
Dr Jakkie Cilliers, Executive Director of the ISS “welcomed the visit noting the excellent cooperation that the partners enjoyed in the past and the potential for the ISS, as part of its 2012-2015 strategic period, to support IGAD”. Along the same lines, H.E. Engineer Mahboub stated: “It is important that we are here to pursue our links with the ISS, in a bid to benefit from our possible synergies to carry forward the development agenda in our region. I know that both our institutions have unique inbuilt leverage that we can call on to speed up and compliment each other. I have always been impressed by the work of the ISS; we do need to learn from them”.
IGAD is one of the designated Regional Economic Communities (RECs) recognized by the African Union. The IGAD mission is to assist and complement the efforts of the Member States (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan) to achieve, through increased cooperation in the following area:
- Food Security and environmental protection
- Promotion and maintenance of peace and security and humanitarian affairs
- Economic cooperation and integration.
ISS is a continental independent peace and security policy research institute having two regional offices within the IGAD region (in Addis Ababa and Nairobi). The ISS mission is to conceptualize, inform and enhance the security debate and to contribute to human security in Africa in the following areas:
- Advancement of Democratic Governance and Reduction of Corruption
- Conflict Prevention and Improved Risk Analysis
- Effective Conflict Management and Peace-Building
- Combating Transnational Threats and International Crimes
- Reduction of Crime and Violence
About the ISS
The Institute for Security of Studies (ISS) is a pan-African organization that undertakes applied policy research, provides teaching and training as well as technical assistance. The Institute is head quartered in Pretoria, South Africa with offices in Cape Town, South Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Dakar, Senegal. The ISS works for the advancement of sustainable human security in Africa. It seeks to mainstream human security perspectives into public policy processes and to influence decision makers within Africa and beyond. The objective of the Institute is to add critical balance and objectivity by providing timely, empirical research, teaching and implementation support on sustainable human security issues to policy makers, area specialists, advocacy groups, and the media.
