Day: September 2, 2022

(Mombasa, Kenya): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) through its IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Initiative (IDDRSI) and in collaboration with the Government of Sweden, organised a Gender and Resilience Knowledge Share Fair with the theme “Gender Transformative Approach to Mitigating Climate Risks in Karamoja and Mandera Clusters.”

The Share Fair focused on how to best mainstream gender adoption towards resilience-building by focusing on the IGAD’s cross-border areas giving specific emphasis on the Karamoja, and Mandera Clusters.

The two-day share fair event brought together participants from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. These include representatives from regional resilience projects, private sector representatives, cross-border civil society organisations and more especially gender focused CSOs, and technical staff from the IGAD secretariat, IDDRSI focal ministries, Chairpersons of the NEP, local government and community development, gender affairs leading Ministries, academia, research institutions, and other relevant ministries.

A Share fair is a participatory event which provides an opportunity for different actors to come together and share knowledge, experiences, and good practices on a given topic. This can create and strengthen a common knowledge base and understanding and help to identify successful methods and approaches to the issue at hand. This share fair builds on previous share fairs and their successes.

Prior to the current drought across the Horn of Africa, the food security and nutritional situation in the region was already precarious, leaving households extremely vulnerable to food insecurity with little to no coping capacity to manage additional shocks.

Currently, IGAD estimates that 8.1 million people are food insecure in ASLA area of Ethiopia, 3.5 million in Kenya, 7.7 million in Somalia, 8.9 million in South Sudan, 10.6 million in Sudan, and 1.6 million in Uganda, where girls and women and other social groups are more severely impacted by the drought.

The 2022 share fair was organised with the objectives of Sharing the methodology of the gender transformative approach with the participants, sharing success stories and good practices including failures on gender transformative approach focusing on drought response, COVID 19 and conflict, and facilitate and establishing a monitoring mechanism to track the action plans that have been identified from the previous share fair events and identify what has changed.

Source: Intergovernmental Authority on Development

The first U.S. ambassador to Sudan in 25 years has vowed to support the country’s transition to civilian rule. John Godfrey spoke while presenting his credentials Thursday to Sudan’s military-led government.

Godfrey presented his credential documents as the new U.S. ambassador to Sudan in a ceremony at Sudan’s presidential palace.

The document was presented to Sudan’s military leader, Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan, who led the coup against the civilian government in October last year.

Al-Burhan, the chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, welcomed the return of a U.S. ambassador to Sudan after a 25-year absence.

He stressed the importance of developing relations between Khartoum and Washington and said he hoped Godfrey’s appointment represents a new impetus for the two countries’ relationship.

Speaking to reporters in Arabic after the diplomatic ceremony, Godfrey expressed the commitment of the U.S. to build new relations with Sudan.

In Arabic, Godfrey said, “I am so happy to be the new ambassador of the United States in Sudan after more than 25 years. I am happy to have this opportunity to work in Sudan and get to understand its people and their cultures more closely.”

Godfrey was named by the White House as the new ambassador to Sudan in early January. The U.S. Congress approved his appointment in July, and he arrived in Khartoum last week to assume his post.

Ties between the United States and Sudan were severely strained under the three-decade rule of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, with Washington slapping crippling economic sanctions on Khartoum.

The U.S. government blacklisted Sudan in 1993 as a state sponsor of terrorism because the Bashir administration hosted al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden, who resided in the country between 1992 and 1996.

The ambassador’s arrival comes as Sudan reels from deepening unrest and a sinking economy.

Godfrey said the U.S government hopes to see an inclusive civilian-led government restored in Sudan to complete the remaining transitional period.

“We expect to see the establishment of a new government led by civilians in Sudan within a comprehensive dialogue that supports all Sudanese political parties,” he said, “including the democratic supporting forces.”

Godfrey previously worked as the acting special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

He also formerly worked as the acting deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Source: Voice of America