ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Policymakers and experts from Ethiopia and Djibouti on Saturday underscored need to tackle the different cross-border security related challenges and threats in the Horn of Africa region.
High-level policymakers and experts drawn from the two Horn of Africa countries, under the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), evaluated over the past few days the bilateral as well as regional security threats towards realizing sustainable peace and development in the region by fostering regional economic integration, IGAD said on Saturday.
One of the areas along the border of Ethiopia and Djibouti that was discussed among multi-sector participants was the Dewele-Tog Wajaale corridor, a common rail and road crossings between the two countries. The corridor also stretches all the way between Ethiopia and Somaliland to the Gulf of Eden.
According to IGAD, the corridor is faced with multiple cross-border criminal activities including migrant smuggling, illegal cash flows, contraband and smuggling of prohibited goods and counterfeiting.
As Ethiopian and Djiboutian policymakers and experts urged the need to tackle cross-border security threats in the region, the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) had also recently reiterated their support to create stability in the region.
Noting the challenges attributed to the fragile regional peace and security conditions across the region, UN and AU in February this year jointly underlined the need to "engage actors of the broader Horn of Africa region in order to find a holistic approach to the management of conflicts."
