ETHIOPIAN INSTITUTE of PEACE (EIP) elected to lead the newly established Horn of Africa Borderlands Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Platform on a workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya on 27 and 28 June, 2013.
The platform has already planned in its annual work to include other CSOs from the 14 East African Countries, according to AU category, working in cross-border issues and four thematic areas of Governance, Peace and Security; Trade and Economic Empowerment, Climate and Environment and Capacity building.
The guest of honor Ambassador Fredric Gateretse – Ngoge, Focal Person for Partnership African Union Border Program (AUBP) and Regional Security Mechanism said, that the platform would have been instrumental to the peace and security, trade and other cross-border activities among African countries. He further said that the platform at this stage should work to include east African countries as a member.
On the closing remark Mr. Kassahun Abate, representing EIP said, “EIP with its reach experience in conflict management and peacebuilding in Ethiopia and the horn will exert all its effort to realize the objectives of the platform as it is given the leadership role on the workshop.”
The workshop consists of borderland CSOs working in the horn, representative of the African Union Border Program (AUBP), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Life and Peace Institute (LPI) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
This is a great opportunity for the EIP to promote itself and achieve its timeless mission and vision. By virtues of necessity, it is also a good outlet to EIP to leverage its enormous potential and efforts far beyond Ethiopian and the Horn of Africa to at least to East Africa and make itself a center of excellence in conflict management and peacebuilding.
