African Union and IGAD create border coordination mechanism

The African Union (AU) Border Programme and East African countries set up a new group to help fix border problems after meeting for three days in Mombasa, Kenya, according to the recent announcement. Officials from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda got together September 16-18 to work out how to handle cross-border issues better. Wafa Kassim Ali from Djibouti ran the meeting. They want to create a Regional Technical Committee that can give advice to countries on border management.

East Africa’s borders cause lots of headaches. Cattle herders cross into other countries, neighbors fight over where borders actually are, and colonial powers drew many of these lines without caring how people actually lived. Rivers and grazing lands don’t stop at political boundaries, which creates problems between countries.

The meeting followed AU rules that say countries need to work together on border stuff. People shared stories about how Central and West Africa handle cross-border issues. They also talked about getting countries to sign the Niamey Convention, which covers cross-border cooperation.

The group came up with several ideas: prevent border disputes before they start, manage borders jointly, and create policies that help neighbors get along. They want annual meetings, better information sharing, training programs, and more money for border management.

This could help the region avoid some of the border conflicts that have caused problems in the past.