Cross-Border Binding Agreements, IGAD Livestock Stakeholders Wait Eye-Hawked For MoUs

The Standard Methods and Procedures in Animal Health (SMP-AH) recently organised a cross-border meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to initiate development of binding agreements between Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somaliland and Somalia on Animal Health to facilitate service delivery along their common borders. The purpose is to strengthen cooperation and partnership between countries along bilateral borders to address the common challenges preventing countries and livestock communities trading across the bilateral borders within the Somali cluster. The Memorandum of Understanding develops an agenda to guide implementation that lays the foundation to facilitate prevention and control of various transboundary animal diseases across borders in the Somali cluster.

Dr Yismashewa from Ethiopia emphasized the need for countries in the IGAD region to prevent livestock trade bans in order to enhance livestock trade in the region. “a key challenge is the prevention of widespread disease outbreaks in the region brought about by differing animal health measures implemented by various countries within the IGAD region” said Dr Yismashewa. “I call on countries to strengthen collaboration in the control of transboundary animal diseases and in the prevention of emerging new diseases,” he added. The meeting was attended by 36 participants from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, AU-IBAR, IGAD Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD) and Oxfam.