CEWARN convened the 15th meeting of Committee of Permanent Secretaries (CPS) that brings together permanent secretaries of Ministries of Foreign affairs and Heads of national Conflict Early Warning and Response Units (CEWERUs) from IGAD Member states on 20 November 2019.

The meeting that was held at the Palm Africa Hotel in Juba, South Sudan was also attended by IGAD Focal Persons from Ministries of Foreign Affairs of IGAD member states. The CPS is CEWARN’s highest policy organ that convenes bi-annually to consider the progress of CEWARN’s operations and provide policy guidance. The CPS meeting was preceded by a two-day technical Meeting of Heads of CEWARN’s national Units (CEWERUs) as well as representatives of Civil society organizations from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

The technical meeting received reports from national CEWERUs and the CEWARN Unit on the status of implementation of CEWARN Strategy Framework from 19 July – 18 November 2019. The technical meeting came up with a set of recommendations to guide the mechanism’s subsequent regional conflict prevention and peace building work.

During the CPS meeting, the outcomes of a regional scenario exercise on peace and security that was conducted in October 2019 in Entebbe were presented. The scenario building exercise outcomes are the result of an intense exercise conducted with experts from IGAD Member States along CEWARN’s Sectors of conflict early warning focus, namely: Governance, security, economy social and environment.

The scenario building exercise began with identification of key issues emerging along the five key sectors in each member states and subsequently identified common trends that pointed to emerging issues-to-watch as threats to human security in the IGAD region.

Under Economy Sector, CEWARN regional scenario building exercise identified Youth Unemployment; rising national debt; as well as weak institutions and skewed terms of trade as issues-to-watch affecting human security with potentially destabilizing impacts.

Under Social Sector, , CEWARN regional scenario building exercise identified Migration particularly rising number of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs); polarized ethnicity; as well as Human trafficking as issues-to-watch affecting human security with potentially destabilizing impacts.

Under Environment Sector, , CEWARN regional scenario building exercise identified poorly governed extractive industries and natural disasters (including floods, soil erosion and drought) as issues-to-watch affecting human security with potentially destabilizing impacts.

Under Governance Sector, CEWARN regional scenario building exercise identified electoral processes; tension among central and provincial government structures as well as as boundary disputes as issues-to-watch affecting human security with potentially destabilizing impacts.

Under Security Sector, CEWARN regional scenario building exercise identified proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs); inter-state disputes and violent extremism/terrorism as issues-to-watch affecting human security with potentially destabilizing impacts.

Refer to Decision of the 15th CPS Meeting for further information.