CEWARN is delivering a four-day training on its new integrated data collection and analysis system to 21 representatives of civil society networks that will constitute its Information Collection Network (ICN) in Uganda. Members of CEWARN’s national Conflict Early Warning and Response Unit (CEWERU) which serves as the mechanism’s national hub are also taking part in the training which commenced on 28th June in Kampala, Uganda.

The training follows CEWARN’s expanded operational mandate that was adopted in September 2012 and the subsequent renovation of its conflict data collection and analysis system to serve as a more robust regional conflict early warning and response mechanism. The mechanism’s geographic and thematic scope has also significantly expanded to address a wide spectrum of conflict typologies across the IGAD region.

CEWARN’s current operational focus entails that CEWARN collects early warning data across fifteen priority conflict themes categorized into five sectors, namely, Security, Governance, Social, Economic and Environmental. The priority themes include Commerce and Trade; Finance conditions; Poverty; Natural disasters and Accidents; Resource Competition; Elections and Campaigns; Fairness, Equality and Justice; Armed conflict and Violence; Crime and Personal safety; Terrorism and Torture; Pastoralism and Migration among others. From 2002-2012, CEWARN had a sole focus on cross-border pastoral and related conflicts in limited cross-border areas.

Refer to Press Release attached for more information.

The Peace and Security Division of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and IGAD’s Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN) took part in a workshop hosted by the Budapest Centre for Mass Atrocities Prevention (BCMAP) on the African Task Force on Mass Atrocities Prevention Initiative (ATF) on 13 June in Addis Ababa. The ATF is an initiative of the BCMAP that was launched in Addis Ababa on 18 March, 2015 to map the capabilities in preventing political instability and mass atrocities of five regional organizations in Africa, namely: the African Union, IGAD, ECOWAS, ICGLR and SADC.

During the workshop, representatives of the ATF and the BCMAP shared findings of a research on the relevant capabilities of the IGAD’s Peace and Security Division with key officials of the division and CEWARN. IGAD’s Peace and Security Division and the BCMAP subsequently expressed interest to sign an MOU to build longer-term collaboration on boosting regional capacities for prevention of mass atrocities with the context of IGAD’s ongoing efforts in Conflict Prevention, Managment and Resolution.

CEWARN Director Mr. Camlus Omogo and Executive Director of the InterAfrica Group (IAG) Mr. Tamrat Kebede today signed a framework agreement for cooperation (2016 – 2019). IAG is an independent non-profit organization established in Ethiopia in 1989 with a reputable niche in research and public dialogue on vital development and governance policy issues both in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region. 

From 2004 – 2013, IAG has been serving as CEWARN’s National Research Institute (NRI) for Ethiopia and has been an integral part of the Ethiopian Conflict Early Warning and Early Response Unit (CEWERU). In that period, IAG has played a significant role in peace building initiatives on the Ethiopian sides of the Karamoja and Somali clusters within the context of CEWARN’s limited focus on cross-border pastoral and related conflicts.

The new framework agreement is informed by CEWARN’s new expanded operational mandate as articulated in the 2012-2019 strategy framework in both thematic and geographic terms to cover wide areas of focus beyond pastoral conflicts. Areas of cooperation covered by the framework agreement include Early warning; Research and Analysis; Supporting and scaling up response; Capacity building as well as Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning.

CEWARN Ag. Director Mr. Camlus Omogo and team received and briefed a visiting team of development partners representing the Governments of Austria and Sweden. The briefing covered CEWARN’s current activities; CEWARN Strategy Framework 2012-2019; as well as CEWARN’s new integrated early warning data collection and analysis architecture and the Rapid Response Fund (RRF). CEWARN is currently in the process of test launching a new integrated early warning data collection and analysis architecture that enables CEWARN to operationalize its 2012-2019 Strategy Framework. The Strategy Framework entails an expanded focus of conflict typologies and drivers across the IGAD region. The Governments of Austria and Sweden are amongst CEWARN’s current principal partners.

CEWARN through Ag. Director Mr. Camlus Omogo and Response Coordinator Mr. Yacob Chaka took part in a two day consultation in Moyale Town, Ethiopia on 11-12 April 2016 alongside representatives of the Ministry of Federal and Pastoral Development Affairs as well as United National Country Team (UNCT) for Ethiopia and community representatives from Borena and Liben zones of Ethiopia as well as Marsabet county of Kenya.

The consultations were intended to inform a cross-border and area-based development programme for these Ethiopia-kenya borderland areas with the aim of reducing conflict, strengthening social cohesion and bringing sustainable peace and development in the region.

The programme is based on the initiative announced in October 2014 by the UN Secretary General, IGAD Council of Ministers, and the World Bank President, which was aimed at boosting economic growth, reducing poverty and promoting business activities in the Horn of Africa through cross-border cooperation. The Ethiopian and Kenyan Heads of State – the Prime Minister of Ethiopia H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn and Kenyan President H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta officially launched the initiative in December 2015 in Moyale town.

The key aims of the cooperation include creating opportunities for (a) trade, investment and tourism; (b) effective management of natural resources; (c) infrastructure development; (d) facilitation of safe cross-border movement of people; as well as (e) enhancing sustainable peace and development.

The programme will entail use of participatory action research; application of GIS to map potential resources as well as creation of alternative livelihood projects to enhance communal resilience and to promote peace along these border areas. The consultations were presided over by State Minister for Ministry of Federal and Pastoral Development Affairs Mr. Kaydaki Gezahegn.

IGAD Executive Secretary Amb. Mahboub Maalim sent a message of congratulations to the Government and people of Kenya on the collapse of all remaining ICC cases including Against Vice President William Ruto.

The Congratulatory note conveyed from Amb. Maalim to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta reads: “We join you, your government and the people of Kenya to celebrate the termination of the remaining cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The country in particular and the region at large can now focus on more important and urgent development matters as well as reconciliation, healing and post conflict reconstruction.

” It would be recalled that IGAD had condemned the way the ICC had handled the Kenyan cases from the beginning. During a press conference held in Nairobi on 22nd March 2011, Amb Mahboub stated clearly IGAD’s position on the deferral request of the ICC cases by Kenya pointing out that the trials would “weaken the country and weaken the region”. Refer to link http://goo.gl/fB60Uv for more details.

Meeting of IGAD Member State officials of Trade, Customs and Security on the Nexus between Informal Cross-border Trade and Cross-border Security Governance that is co-convened by CEWARN in collaboration with the Life & Peace Institute, OSSREA and IAG – is in progress in Addis Ababa.

IGAD Executive Secretary Amb. Mahboub Maalim and the Director for Trade and Industry Division of the African Union Commission, Mrs. Treasure Maphanga spoke at the opening of the meeting on 22 March and emphasized the critical importance of borderlands’ security and development for the peace and prosperity of the entire IGAD region.

IGAD’s Conflict Early Waming and Response Mechanism (CEWARN) will be hosting a meeting of IGAD Member State officials of Trade, Customs and Security on Addressing the nexus between Informal Cross-border Trade and Cross-border Security Governance in the /GAD region on 22-23 March 2016 in Addis Ababa.

The meeting’s main aim is to deliberate on the dynamics of Informal Cross-border Trade and its correlation with Cross-border Security Governance in the IGAD region as well as to identify and deliberate on discernible policy gaps towards enhancing regional peace and security.

The meeting is part of an ongoing collaborative pilot policy initiative among CEWARN, the Life & Peace Institute (LPI), the Organization of Social Science Research for Eastern and Southem Africa (OSSREA) and the InterAfrica Group (IAG) that is aimed at fostering dialogue and collaborative engagement among communities, civil society, the academia and governments on peace and security policy issues in the Horn of Africa. The initiative’s end goal is to stimulate regional policies that are evidence-based and sensitive to local dynamics and perspectives.

The 22-23 March meeting follows extensive knowledge harvest work done by the partner organizations in academic and civil society sectors on the correlation between informal crossborder trade and cross-border security governance in the IGAD region.

IGAD’s Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN) in collaboration with the Nairobi-based Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations (HIPSIR) will launch a certificate course in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at the HIPSIR Campus in Nairobi on 8-17 December 2015.

The participants of the first round of training are CEWARN field monitors that have been serving as peace practitioners and early warning data collectors in CEWARN areas of reporting in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda.

The course that combines theory, research and practice, is intended to enable participants to critically reflect on their practice, be challenged by emerging theories, and develop solid plans for strengthening their practice within their communities.

The course comprises modules on: Conflict Analysis: Understanding Contemporary Conflict and Violence; Strategies and Frameworks of Breaking Cyles of Violence; Community-based trauma healing; Fundamentals in Designing and Facilitating training as well as ‘Researching our own Practice.’

Refer to press release and course brochure attached.