Friday November 23, 2018
Communities living along the common border with Ethiopia and Somalia have come together to build a cross-border conflict management initiative.
The Regional Approach for Sustainable Conflict Management and Integration (Rasmi) programme is funded by the European Union and Trust Fund for Africa.
The project uses a conflict system-based approach to promote peace-building, conflict management and conflict resolution.
Rasmi means reliable in Somali. Team leader Yussuf Abdullahi on Wednesday said the project targets stakeholders in the Mandera Triangle who are most vulnerable to conflict, irregular migration and recruitment into militias and terror groups.
The stakeholders include youth, internally displaced persons, pastoralist dropouts and marginalised ethnic groups.
Rasmi also engages local government agencies, women, religious leaders, security forces and the private sector – those who have the greatest capacity for managing conflicts and promoting peace, Abdullahi said.Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia share a common border at the famous Border Point One (BP1 ) near Mandera town.
Somalia, in particular, has experienced armed conflict, violent crime, terror attacks, political instability and state failure for years.
Insecurity stems from a complex mix of resource competition, clan power struggles and, more recently, the presence of armed terror groups.
The existence of tri-country boundaries creates further complexities related to border management and security between administrations with varying capacities and agenda.
In the past one week, Rasmi has engaged at least 150 representatives from communities in the three countries during a baseline survey. The aim was to establish the level of social cohesion in their local socioeconomic and political settings.