The British Embassy in Addis Abeba has joined forces with Ethiopian Foreign Affairs and Peace ministries as well as the Somali regional government to launch a peace and security program, dubbed ‘Deris Wanaag’, intended to bolster resilience against violent extremism in the Ethiopia-Kenya-Somalia borderlands.
According to a press release sent to Addis Standard, the UK will commit £10 million over the next three years to the program, which will be launched on Thursday, November 9, 2023 in Jigjiga, Somalia.
“The programme will support effective policy and programming, strengthen formal and informal resilience-building mechanisms and address community needs to mitigate against drivers of instability and violent extremism,†the press release noted
‘Deris Wanaag,’ a Somali idiom that means ‘good neighborliness,’ will concentrate on integrating national responses to insecurity, supporting conflict resolution structures, and aligning development and peacebuilding activity across the three countries. During the launch, Mustafe Omar, President of the Somali Region, emphasized the importance of cross-border cooperation in addressing the drivers of instability in the Horn of Africa, where many socioeconomic dynamics are shared across borders.
According to the press release, the program will leverage the United Kingdom’s strategic partnerships and build on the successes of previous activity in the region to ensure that security, development, and peacebuilding efforts benefit communities along the border. The launch in Jigjiga brought together government officials from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, as well as program leaders, to discuss implementation priorities.
**With contributions from ADDIS STANDARD
