Intergovernmental Authority on Development

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement
Headquarters Djibouti City, Djibouti
Membership 8 East African states
(1 suspended)
Leaders
 -  Executive Secretary  Mahboub Maalim
Establishment January 1986

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) (French: Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement) is an eight-country regional development organization in East Africa. Its headquarters are located in Djibouti City.

Contents

Current member states

Formation

Recurring and severe droughts and other natural disasters between 1974 and 1984 caused widespread famine, ecological degradation and economic hardship in the Horn of Africa region. Although individual countries took substantial measures to cope with the problems and received support from the international community, its extent argued strongly for a regional approach to supplement national efforts. The six countries of the region took action through the United Nations to establish an intergovernmental body for development and drought control in their region. At a January 1986 assembly of heads of state and government, an agreement was signed which officially launched the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD). Soon after its formation the mandate of IGADD widened, becoming a vehicle for regional security and political dialogue.

IGADD to IGAD

At an Extraordinary Summit of IGADD Heads of State and Government held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 18 April 1995, leaders met and resolved to revitalize the Authority by expanding its areas of regional co-operation. This would create a full-fledged regional political, economic, development, trade and security entity similar to the South African Development Community (SADC) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). One of the major motivations for the revitalization of IGADD was the existence of many organizational and structural problems that made the implementation of its goals and principles ineffective. On 21 March 1996, the Heads of State and Government at the Second Extraordinary Summit in Nairobi, Kenya approved and adopted an Agreement Establishing the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

IGASOM

African Union

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On January 6, 2005 the original plans for the AU to put peacekeepers in Somalia were first agreed by the AU Peace and Security Council. IGAD was mandated to put such a mission, named IGASOM, into practice. In March 2005, IGAD proposed a Peace Support Mission to Somalia involving 10,000 troops, at a cost of $500 million for the first year. Due to many factors, IGASOM did not materialize in 2006. In September 2006, the African Union approved a smaller force, expected to reach 8,000 troops, at a cost of $335 million for its first year. The mission was now called AMISOM. As of April 2007, only a part of AMISOM has been deployed to war-torn Somalia.

Current situation

Cooperation is practically stopped in the current time, because of various reasons:

Structure

Comparison with other regional blocs

African Economic Community
Pillars
regional
blocs (REC)
1
Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member
states
in millions per capita
AEC 29,910,442 853,520,010 2,053,706 2,406 54
ECOWAS 5,112,903 251,646,263 342,519 1,361 15
ECCAS 6,667,421 121,245,958 175,928 1,451 11
SADC 9,882,959 233,944,179 737,335 3,152 15
EAC 1,817,945 124,858,568 104,239 1,065 5
COMESA 12,873,957 406,102,471 735,599 1,811 20
IGAD 5,233,604 187,969,775 225,049 1,197 7
Other
African
blocs
Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member
states
in millions per capita
CEMAC 2 3,020,142 34,970,529 85,136 2,435 6
SACU 2 2,693,418 51,055,878 541,433 10,605 5
UEMOA 2 3,505,375 80,865,222 101,640 1,257 8
UMA 3 5,782,140 84,185,073 491,276 5,836 5
GAFTA 4 5,876,960 166,259,603 635,450 3,822 5
1 The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a signatory to the AEC, but not participating in any bloc yet

2 Economic bloc inside a pillar REC
3 Proposed for pillar REC, but objecting participation
4 Non-African members of GAFTA are excluded from figures

  smallest value among the blocs compared
  largest value among the blocs compared

During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Somali Islamists to ask AU to end peace force plan

External links