CEWARN’s approach to pastoral conflict is poised to broaden and be made more robust in providing sufficient early warning to enable preventive action and appropriate mitigation.

The Committee of Permanent Secretaries (CPS), the senior policy organ of IGAD’s Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN) convened on 27th May in Mombasa, Kenya and agreed to adopt related recommendations emerging from CEWARN’s 8th Technical Committee on Early Warning and Response which was held from 25-26 May 2011.

The recommendations were aimed at defining the future shape and activities of CEWARN in terms of a possible expansion of its coverage in broader areas of reporting on the Djibouti-Ethiopia border, in Somalia and to render the assistance needed by South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan. Other recommendations also include the need for CEWARN to broaden its information collection as well as the integration of its analysis of conflict with food security and climate data.

The decision comes at a time when CEWARN is embarking on developing a new five-year strategy covering the period from 2012-2017.