EU opens first field office bordering Ethiopia – The Star, Kenya

by GILBERT KOECH
News Reporter

06 April 2019 – 05:00

EU opens first field office bordering Ethiopia Office will seek solutions to drivers of conflict and instability, irregular migration and displacement

In Summary

•The programme is co-funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa and the UN and implemented by UNDP and IGAD.

•Sh10 million project started last year in February 

President Kenyatta and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn lay the foundation for the Kenya-Ethiopia cross border programme in the border town of Moyale
Image: PSCU

Feuds between communities in Kenya and neighbouring countries could decline after the EU opens a field office in Moyale on the Ethiopia border. The office will address drivers of conflict and instability, irregular migration and displacement in cross-border areas. “The European Union believes opening the office will be a keystone to increase cross-border cooperation and to ensure the project’s activities benefit local institutions and communities that have suffered from marginalisation and conflict,” said the head of the EU Delegation to Ethiopia, Sabrina Bazzanella.

The Moyale office covers the Borana zone in Ethiopia and Marsabit county in Kenya.

Two additional field offices will soon be opened in Turkana-Omo at the Kenyan and Ethiopian Border and Mandera-GedoDoolow at the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali borders soon.

It’s part of a Sh10 million project.

The Moyale field team will work closely with local governments, communities, civil society, and the private sector to provide cross-border technical support.

It will help improve livelihoods, peacebuilding and capacity-building activities to sustain peace. 

The office will serve as a cross-border unit for the UN Development Programme and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.