WORKNEH: Covid-19 and desert locusts immediate concerns to Igad

Executive Secretary of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, Workneh Gebeyehu, spoke with Fred Oluoch on the future of the regional body.

As new executive secretary of Igad, what are your priorities?

I will build on the progress made by my predecessors, and increase Igad physical presence at cross-border areas. We will establish more offices like the one we have set up in Moroto, northeastern Uganda, for the Karamoja cluster between Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda. I will initiate reforms that will make the organisation responsive to regional priorities and speed up regional integration.

Currently, my immediate priority is to ensure that member states collaborate in combating Covid-19 and mitigating its negative impacts today and its fall-outs of tomorrow, prepare together for the imminent desert locust invasion in such a way it does not hamper food security in the region, and beware of the climate predictions and the potential floods in May.

Igad is doing a lot for the betterment of the people in the region which should be known to the public. These include; empowerment of youth and women, promoting the rights of refugees and internally displaced persons; the well-being of pastoralists; protection of the environment and natural resources among others.

What are the challenges facing Igad today and how do you want to tackle them?

Igad is a dynamic region being the only region on the continent that saw the birth of two new nations since independence period — Eritrea and South Sudan. We registered progress in South Sudan and Somalia in terms of peace building and security, but more needs to be done to sustain the gains. Climate change is a challenge globally but the way it is affecting our region and people is to be taken seriously.

The immediate challenges for the region is that; many of our people face the danger of being out of jobs due to Covid-19; there are those displaced by landslides, flooding and those who are internally displaced.

I maintain that Igad is a region of opportunities with a population of 240 million, with the majority of them being youth. These can nevertheless turn into challenges if we are not prepared. And to me for these assets to remain, we need to fast-track the regional integration that will open up horizons to many within the region.

What are your comments about concerns that Igad played a spectator role in the second phase of the South Sudan peace negotiations and until now?

Igad has been proactive, engaged and committed and will always be committed to South Sudan.  It is not disputed that Igad was the midwife when South Sudan was coming into existence. Since Sudan took over the chairmanship of our organisation five months ago, Igad conducted one Ordinary and two Extra-Ordinary Summits and did the same with the Council of Ministers. Two of the Igad guarantors, Sudan and Uganda, facilitated one face-to-face meeting of the two principals of the Peace Agreement, and deputy president of Sudan facilitated at least three face-to-face meetings.

It was the last Igad Extraordinary Summit of February 8 in Addis Ababa that unlocked one of the most difficult outstanding issues which was the number of states. The Summit paved the way for the formation of the Executive and Ministerial Cabinet of the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU).  On March 12, I was in Juba on the day the current government was being announced and I am to go back there as frequently as needed.

Please comment on concerns that vested interests of two key Igad partner states, Kenya and Ethiopia, is slowing down the pacification of Somalia.

Kenya and Ethiopia just like other countries in the Igad region have a stake in peace, security and prosperity in Somalia. Their future is inextricably linked to the stability of Somalia.

The question we should be asking is whether Igad countries have achieved what they set up to achieve; meaning to assist the people of Somalia create a functioning government and defeat the warlords, to degrade the ability of al-Shabaab to control territories, and to harmonise and promote sustainable peace and good governance.

Since 1991, Somalia peace processes have been conducted in Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda. They have all contributed both to the peace processes and to the implementation of the Peace Agreement including deployment of troops under the auspices of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

Like all the Igad member states, the interests of Ethiopia and Kenya in Somalia only converge in maintaining stability by fighting terrorists such as al-Shabaab in order to strengthen the stability of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Their activities are co-ordinated under the framework of Igad, AU and UN.

What are you plans to ensure that Igad is financially stable?

Like any other organisation similar to ours, there are always budgetary gaps. Some of the peace and security programmes such as the peace processes in South Sudan require huge amount of resources while other regular programmes can be managed within the reasonable amounts mobilised from partners.

Our current peace and security project has been well implemented with support of the European Union and other partners.

Our technical teams are mobilised to resolve the issues raised by some partners for the sake of transparency and accountability. We are now close to resuming implementation for the few projects that have been subject to these constraints.

To ensure that Igad is financially sound, we always call on our member states to step up commitment by investing in programmes and projects for the benefit of the region and specifically for the cross border populations. The financial stability in organisations like Igad is of paramount importance for the sustainability of the results achieved.

We normally collaborate with traditional and emerging development partners and financial institutions to do programming not only in the peace and security sector but in all the rest: Agriculture and Environment, Health and Social Development, Economic Co-operation and Regional Integration. We get support from them in terms of finance and it sometimes happen that, due to administrative and procedural paths, allocated budgets take longer time to reach than expected.

The Igad region is one of the epicentres of conflict and proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the continent. How does your leadership plan to change this?

Igad region is located on the busiest maritime route globally, where arms trafficking via the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea have a long history. It is particularly true that with the wars in Yemen, the flow of weapons from that country to the Horn of Africa has increased over the last three years. If left unchecked, the trade in illicit weapons and materiel will further fuel instability in countries of the region and beyond.

Our regional Security Sector Programme has a pillar dedicated to transnational organised crime which is currently running a project towards mapping the scope and magnitude of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the Igad region, as well as identifying the demand and supply chain of it.

Igad brings together policymakers and institutions in charge of combating small arms and light weapons so as to enable harmonisation of policies and foster collaboration. We contribute to building the capacity of law enforcement and criminal justice system to address the problem. We promote international, continental and national normative frameworks on controlling the flow of small arms. We are closely aligned with the Small Arms Survey which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and INTERPOL.

BIO

Dr Workneh Gebeyehu was born in 1970 in the town of Shashamane in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.

Dr Workneh studied at Addis Ababa University where he obtained a Bachelor and Masters degree in International Relations. He holds a PhD in Criminology from the University of South Africa in Pretoria.

Before becoming executive secretary of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, Dr Gebeyehu, was Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia between 2016 and 2019. He also served as Minister for Transport between 2012 and 2016.

Dr Workneh has had a long career in the civil service in the Oromia region of Ethiopia where he served in the Administration and Security functions.